British Sea Power builds it up; Feist strips it down
British Sea Power/Feist
Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 16, 2005

by Marc Hirsh

originally published in The Boston Globe, May 18, 2005

It’s not entirely clear how two acts as different as British Sea Power and Feist ended up sharing a bill with one another, but with their two-week tour nearing its end with a stop at the Middle East on Monday, the contrast between them provided yet more evidence that less can indeed be more.

That’s something British Sea Power hasn’t yet mastered, but it’s a lesson the band seems to be learning. Less ornate than on record, where it sounds like a less erudite Decemberists, the band on stage called to mind another nautically-named band, late-’80s/early-’90s college rockers the Ocean Blue, with its pinging guitars and keyboard wash. The more straightforward approach underlined singer/guitarist Yan’s nervous menace and helped the band build up a good head of steam by the end of “Childhood Memories,” “Oh Larsen B” and “North Hanging Rock.”  

Unfortunately, that momentum was isolated to individual songs and proved hard to maintain throughout the set. Part of the problem was British Sea Power’s distracting penchant for mild gimmickry, which included a pre-show mix peppered with radio-type promos for their new album Open Season, recordings of ocean-themed sounds filling the gaps between songs and keyboard player Eamon’s invasions of the audience while beating on a drum, occasionally by letting it fall on his hardhatted head.  

Canadian singer Feist took the opposite tack, stripping the sad-sounding, vaguely Continental songs on Let It Die down to the bone and coming out all the better for it. Bathed in a low light that barely illuminated her and accompanying herself on electric guitar, Feist sang in a hushed, vulnerable voice that was the female equivalent of Nick Drake singing like Jeff Buckley.  

That voice was a boon to the downbeat material, such as her mesmerizing take on the traditional folk ballad “When I Was A Young Girl,” and it effectively transformed the Bee Gees’ “Inside And Out” into a torch song. But Feist showed a playful side too, with the skeletal “Cherry, Cherry” accompaniment of “Mushaboom,” the on-the-fly samples resulting in multiple Feists layered in odd but fascinating harmonies, and the invitation extended to an ecstatic audience member to step on stage to scat during “Gatekeeper.”

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