Sylvan Esso @ The Howard Theatre - 9/13/14
Saturday. The Howard Theatre in Washington, DC. Two young musicians whose resumes – work with bands like Mountain Man, Megafaun, The Rosebuds, Feist and more – each run a mile long take the stage armed with only a microphone and a laptop rig. What spills out over the next hour is some of the most inventive, exhilarating, forward thinking and humanizing music of 2014. Maybe of the past decade.
Consider this: Sylvan Esso’s debut album was recorded in a living room. By two people. It combines elements of electronic music, folk, soul, indie pop and more, all coalescing into a simultaneously sparse, yet lush, groove that speaks as much to the listeners heart as it does to their ass.
You will move upon hearing their music. You will be moved. And when they do all of this live on stage in front of you, you will sweat profusely along with the rest of the sold out crowd.
Sylvan Esso "playing it right" Saturday night at The Howard Theatre.
Sylvan Esso only has one album of the material, so there were no surprises to be found in the set list, but that potential pitfall was quickly overcome by the duo’s mastery of their craft. Songs like “Hey Miami”, “Could I Be”, and the album’s hit, “Coffee” started off in familiar territory but quickly fed off of the spastic energy of the room, becoming looser, less shackled versions of themselves. Nick Sanborn’s ability to sample his cohort Amelia Meath’s powerful, yet sublime, voice on the fly, created some wild opportunities for innovation. Innovation that, if the persistent grins on their faces were any indicator, surprised and delighted the nerded out duo as much as they did audience.
And that’s the evening in a nutshell. Why do we create? Not just music, but anything? Some do it for money. Some do it for fame. Some for validation, but what really drives us to create? Obviously there’s no tangible thing we can grab at and say “HERE! THIS IS IT!” But we can recognize “it” when we see “it.” And Meath and Sanborn have tapped into “it” to become – in a year that has given us career defining works from the likes of The War On Drugs, Future Islands and Sturgill Simpson – 2014’s greatest success story. There’s no artifice. No planned agenda. There’s no “show” really. It’s just two people using a universal language to connect and communicate with each other and share that feeling in generous portions with you.
Sure, I may be a little biased. I chatted with the duo back in June and discovered besides being stunning performers, they’re quite lovely people. But if you’ve seen them you know that, because it all comes out onstage. Sylvan Esso is who they are, and I know very few bands/artists who have achieved that feat more in 2014, or any year for that matter.
Go see Sylvan Esso NOW and often. Because in 2014 there’s nobody, and I mean nobody doing it better.
Sylvan Esso performing @ The Howard Theatre - 9/13/14 (Photos by Kevin Hill)
EDIT: Fan-shot video of "Coffee" and "Dreamy Bruises" from the show!
