Natalie Prass took the stage on Wednesday night with her arms raised in triumph. It was done with a wink, a celebration of squeezing her way through the sold out crowd packed shoulder to shoulder on the tiny second floor of DC9. It could have just as easily been a celebration of her recent success, the release of her eponymous debut album on January 27th, followed by a solid run of glowing reviews and interviews.
The album opens with a short, incidental breath. On the one hand, Prass is just preparing to sing, but it’s not hard to imagine that she is bracing herself for what’s about to come. On repeat listens it starts to sound like an announcement that, hey, this is about to get a little rough. Eight of the nine songs that follow are about heartbreak and longing and misunderstanding, with a reprieve coming only on the very last track. But if the lyrics are hard on the soul, the music itself is easy on the ears. Working with Matthew E. White and Trey Pollard at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, Prass filled out the songs with the help of the Spacebomb house band and a full compliment of strings and horns.
The Spacebomb label was founded with a house band and rotating cast of returning musicians, with the idea that all the albums coming out of the process will have a distinct Spacebomb sound. Over the course of six releases that has meant a little bit of Motown mixed with orchestral strings, comfortable with pop but with a timeless quality that works across a variety of genres and songwriter’s visions. The thesis statement was made on the labels first record (the success of which put Natalie Prass’s debut was put on the backburner) founder Mattew E. White’s Big Inner. Since then Spacebomb has been a place for songwriters to explore and expand on their comfort zones. Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds recorded a single, Red Face Boy, under the pseudonym “Howard Ivans,” stretching outside of indie-rock for a driving, soulful track backed by the Spacebomb horns. Another notable release was from “Grandma Sparrow and his Piddle Tractor Orchestra.” A character dreamt up by Megafaun’s Joe Westerlund, it is billed as “a psychedelic children’s song cycle for adults,” that is at times dark and weird, while layered enough to invite repeat listens. It is a statement from Spacebomb that they aren’t afraid to come out of left field with something totally different, which when taken into consideration, makes It Is You from Prass less of a surprise.
On the record, closing track It Is You, stands apart not only for its slightly more positive outlook, but also because it initially feels like it’s coming from another record completely. The twinkling piano and lush strings and harp mark it right away, it is the happy ending to the tumultuous story that preceded it. On stage, Prass acknowledged the lack of room to fit an entire orchestra, and allowed that it was going to sound a little different this time. She set down her guitar and took the microphone from its stand, and after beginning the song with her hand on her hip, poised like the Disney princess that so many reviews have compared the song too, she stepped down into the audience to ask for a dance. Having found a suitor in the front row, she twirled and sang, and though she only had the support of the three piece band on stage, the wistful heart remained.
Fans of the album, and there were many if those singing along the crowd could be presented as evidence, were surely wondering what shape the songs would take when pared down for the tour. The set opened strong with Your Fool, keeping the funky baseline from the record intact but eschewing the string section and horns in favor a distorted guitar solo from Pollard. Never Over You, with just two guitars bass and drums, was more of a straight up rock song. Prass sang Violently with phrasing that was clipped shorter and with a little more bite than on record, the result being when she sang “I’ve had enough of talking politely” it sounded like she meant it. The night’s only non-album song was also the b-side to her first single, a cover of Janet Jackson’s Anytime, Anyplace. “It’s hot in here, and it’s about to get hotter,” Prass said before launching into the song, a sexy R&B track that simmers without any hint self-doubt or misery.
In the end Prass proved that her songs, like the sometimes-broken hearts she sings about, are malleable, capable of revealing themselves to the world in any number of ways. The capacity crowd at DC9 was willing to love them no matter what.
The night began with a set from Nashville’s Lady Lady, a group that Prass knows from her time there. Lady Lady’s songs have a rootsy, Americana feel led by the pair’s sweet harmonies, focused on matters of the heart as well, though their protagonists were more content to be “your girlfriend only for the morning”, or with a summer love that didn’t have to end in heartbreak. Their first single is set to be released soon.
