Brightest Young Things

all words: Jeb Gavin
all photos: Katherine Gaines from a previous (since no photos are allowed during the shows @ U Hall - ed.)

This past Thursday night, Zola Jesus brought her live show to the U Street Music Hall.  My first thought upon entering the club was, "I am not cool enough to be in this room."  This was followed by my only other coherent thought of the evening, “how does such a tiny person emit so much sound?”

The former is no real surprise.  Even compared to other music writers, I’m an obsessive nerd.  I’ll show up in my old man sweater, stand around drinking rye, eyeballing the crowd suspiciously, and spend way too much time (read: any time) considering the ethnomusicological implications of the band’s instruments.  The rest of the crowd seemed content to enjoy their night out, while I stood in the back trying to dissect the show instead of just listening.

Despite my shortcomings as an audience member, the show was revelatory.  I had heard Zola Jesus before; this haunting voice barely fitting into a pixie of a woman winding around and through sparse beats and static synth chords.  But live, there is an element of guarded optimism which is missing or mixed out of her records.  Her voice was the lead instrument in her songs that evening, bolstered and bounded by the minimal keyboards and elegantly simple drum work.  Vocal runs rushed in to fill up the spaces between static chords and toms with this terse, energy.

The only other instrument allowed to meander was a violin, used as counterpoint to the vocal acrobatics.  Zola would surrender the upper range to the violinist, only to climb back up, duel briefly, and then become paramount as the violin dropped back and down and out.  The effort and finesse required to construct such beautiful sonic structures from a voice was staggering, and rarely seen outside of classical music and opera.

To this day, I could not tell if the rest of the audience was as rapt as I was.  Most of what was played was not really “dance” music, though a few people swayed and moved.  Perhaps everyone was in awe.  Perhaps I misread the crowd.

Previously in Live DC:

• 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
• 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
• 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
• 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
• 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show
• 5/22: LiveDC: Penguin Prison & Class Actress @ RNR Hotel
• 5/21: LiveDC: James Morrison @ 930 Club
• 5/21: Photos: Que Sera L'Anniversaire @ Napoleon
• 5/21: LiveDC: La Sera/ Beach Week @ Red Palace
• 5/21: LiveDC: The Black Keys & Arctic Monkeys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion