I figured the night would be a low-key one and that’s how it was, but in a great way. The bands set to play on Sunday, May 2nd were Plume Giant, Lion Cub, and Gregory and the Hawk, all indie/folk acts that were perfect for the setting The Space provided. I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect from the mix, since I wasn’t very familiar with any of the bands, but was pleasantly surprised by what I heard within the three-hour span of the show.
Plume Giant opened up the show with one of the simplest band setups I’ve ever seen live. The local three-piece from New Haven consists of two sometimes-violinists and an
acoustic guitarist. All three members sing, and the mix of two male and one female voices created harmonies that catered to the Beach Boys fans in all of us. The set was a bit too long for an opener, in my opinion, and the group played quite a few songs, despite having been around only since late 2009. Plume Giant covered The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, which to some may seem like a tough feat to accomplish but the trio pulled it off quite nicely, doing it justice and then some. During their final song, one of the two violinists urged the crowd to sing along to the chorus, to which they responded well. Somehow, Giant had almost everyone in the room singing, ‘Ooo girl, ride the wind/ Find a boy in a bottle of gin/ Tie your hair and let it all in/ Better you than me.’ Needless to say, I was impressed by the talent this local trio displayed.
Cambridge, Massachusetts’ indie-electro band Lion Cub played next. This band was a mixed bag for me. Some aspects of their performance were great, but others were not so much. Lion Cub is made up of a vocalist/guitarist, a guitarist, a sometimes-bassist, and a keyboardist. Despite this full lineup, most of the members only played during
half the songs or less. The bassist only played for two songs max, and looked bored for the rest of the set. I felt like Lion Cub needed get their act together when it comes to necessary band members. They use a drum machine, which can sometimes be cool, but in this case the performance could have benefitted greatly from a live drummer. The performance given by the lead singer was impressive despite all this. He was lively and smiley and seemed to be having the time of his life up on The Space’s small stage. Regardless of what the other members were doing, the songs were catchy and the set was fun.
A small, dark-haired, makeup-less girl walked onstage, plugged in her guitar, and took a
seat in the lone plastic chair placed in the middle of the stage. Meredith Godreau, better known as Gregory and the Hawk, quietly said hello to the audience and announced that she was in
a bad mood and hoped the show would turn that around. Immediately after the introduction, her sweet, childlike voice filled the room. She calmly sat as she strummed away at her acoustic guitar and sang songs about being in love and out of love and all the stages in between. Gregory looked down at her shoes for most of the time she was playing, although every time she looked up, she smiled at the audience that was listening intently. To introduce one of her songs she said, ‘I forgot about this song and when I played it I thought it was cute. And by cute I mean I’m a dumb fuck.’ It was funny yet refreshing to hear that word come out of the mouth of someone so unassuming. Gregory and the Hawk
played about an hour-long set or so, filled with lullabies about desperation, jealousy, and all things that once were relevant to her life. There were no sing alongs, as if there were, it would take away from the haunting nature of Merideth’s voice. Everyone in the room seemed to be enamored with the girl’s voice though, as hardly anyone so much as moved within the duration of her set. When I first saw Gregory and the Hawk sit down with just a guitar and no band, I was wary of what I was in for, since acoustic music isn’t typically my thing. I was thoroughly impressed though, and would definitely see a show again after the performance she gave on Sunday night.
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