Written by DCist contributor Sarah Sherman
With all the balancing that had to happen on Sunday night at the Black Cat, Thao Nguyen’s mindful chaos with Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn’s polish, clarinets and violins with wild guitars and four-man percussion teams, the result of finding that spot where the bubble sits perfectly in the carpenter’s level, might have brought the bodies in the room to a standstill.
The superband known as Thao and Mirah with The Most of All, a project that combines Thao and Mirah’s respective bands, did mesmerize for a few songs, but it wasn’t the knockout set it could have been. Remembering the metaphorical fires lit onstage at previous Thao shows, it was a challenge not to mentally wander during mid-tempo mediocrity.
But let’s put this in perspective. Disappointment for Thao and Mirah would have been crowning glory for pretty much anyone else. There were no real failures Sunday night — just the hope for a flawless “extended set of greatest hits” (in Mirah’s words), and the reality that no one, not even a team of musicians like Thao and Mirah with the Most of All, is perfect. “Light the Match”, a tune of Mirah’s, offered a remarkable interplay between clarinet, violin and Mirah’s flawless voice. And while political undertones always raise the question of whether these statements belong at rock shows, I couldn’t help but appreciate “Nola”; a song penned post-Katrina, which starts beautifully, quietly, with ‘It’s not your fault, Pontchartrain,’ a line that breaks your heart to hear it and witness it live. Mirah has mastered a subtle start that rolls to a thunderous end, but the set was crafted to avoid a formulaic feel. “Bones and Skin” was another perfect example, with Mirah’s mercurial voice at first working in concert with quiet strings, then demanding all the attention — and receiving it. But with all the folks at work onstage, if Mirah wasn’t demanding, it was easy for her quiet ways to get lost.
