Bishop Allen @ the Black Cat
Bishop Allen
There are certainly things to pick apart - both in praise and critique. The two founding members, Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, are certainly talented musicians. Rice has a strong and good voice that he does interesting things with. The band has been in the practice of picking up supporting players to fill out their touring needs as they go - a practice that doesn't seem to be paying any dividends of late. All of the vocals sounded similar to the ones on their latest album, Grrr..., though, so we'll assume that this is at least a semi-permanent line-up. Which is unfortunate. The accompanying guitarist and xylophone player roles could have been performed as effectively (if not more so) by these guys. Neither added a damn thing. In fact, the xylophone player spent far more time swaying and smiling than she did actually playing any instruments.
And therein is the formula for a thoroughly benign experience. Enough talent to carry you through, not enough support to turn it into something transcendent. Any song Bishop Allen played on Friday night would fit perfectly over the closing credits of a romantic comedy. They could be on in the background while you were shopping and you'd never notice or be annoyed.
The band stuck mostly to material from the new album. Where their previous stuff was a little more sparse (think Ben Kweller), Grrr... sounds like nothing more than D.C.'s own Jukebox The Ghost (albeit, Jukebox The Ghost with less gas in the tank). More quirky little plays of piano, more random bursts of Spanish guitar, more harmonizing. But, where JTG give their absolute all on stage—jumping and pounding and exuding enough energy for an entire room—Bishop Allen just sort of jam, bop around, and call it a day. They weren't bored or lacking effort, they just didn't seem to have that kind of gripping performance in them. Their attempts at doing new and memorable things were just too twee to be anything more than precious (Ukuleles and dueling xylophones, for example).
A fan of a lot of Bishop Allen's recordings (several of their songs are in permanent rotation on my iPod), I was hoping to come away at least a little more charmed. But I think this band needs to focus less on quirk and more on the strength of their musicianship. There are good ideas brewing underneath those carefully chosen thrift store outfits. They just need to rise to the surface.