Brightest Young Things

all photos: Francis Chung
all words: Alfonso Bravo

Full Disclosure: I got held up and sadly only caught the last song for Wildbirds & Peacedrums and I hate myself for it. What I heard was high energy and fantastic, and everyone in the crowd seemed completely entranced. Check out their CD because they’re damn good, and expect to see me at their next DC show.

Let’s start off by saying that I’ve been an unabashed fanboy of Annie Clark since I saw her steal the show at the Kennedy Center three years ago as part of Sufjan Stevens’ band. Since then I’ve waited impatiently for both “Marry Me” and “Actor” to drop, caught her at RnR and the Black Cat (along with an opening solo set for the Arcade Fire in Montreal for good measure), and loved her every time. This Wednesday’s show at the 9:30 Club (her 2nd appearance after opening for Andrew Bird there, which I still hate myself for missing), however, was the first time I’ve heard her the way I’ve always wanted to hear her. Blisteringly loud, impeccably mixed, and attacking her guitar like never before as its sound was shoved in your face till you wondered how much more you could take.

I mean, let’s get real here. If there’s one thing today’s indie scene is short on it’s six-string deities, but one we can certainly claim is a skinny girl from Texas that will lure you in with her siren voice and intricate chords only to smash your face with her fuzz pedal. Make no mistake, Annie Clark is a guitar monster, and it showed.

Two minutes into the show’s opener, “The Strangers”, as her (fantastic) band weaved its way through the track’s layers and finally made their way to its intense breakdown at the end, it became apparent this was going to be a loudloudloud show. She writhed and contorted her hands on stage as the fuzz-drenched guitar sound cut through the dense orchestration, only to be rivaled by the pulsing kick drum beat that shook the ground beneath my feet and the grey matter in my skull. Later on in the set, songs like “Actor Out of Work” and the chorus on “Marrow” reached new levels of intensity, and the latter half of “Black Rainbow” was, simply put, overwhelming.

SO GOOD.

But it wasn’t all distortion and virtuosity. Behind her, Annie Clark assembled a tight rhythm section and two multi-instrumentalists that played everything from keys to woodwinds to rhythm guitar to sax. “Laughing With a Mouth of Blood” and “Jesus Saves, I Spend” breathed dynamically in a way I’d never heard them before. Her two solo performances, a cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” (which blows Nico’s version out of the water for my money) and the first song off her encore, “Paris Is Burning”, highlighted her voice beautifully and brought the air in the 9:30 Club to a complete standstill. Closing it all out was “Your Lips Are Red”, which broke down halfway through into an insanely satisfying ten-minute long noise jam.

SO. GOOD.

I clearly wasn’t the only die-hard fan there either, as eyes in the crowd remained wide-eyed and spellbound, hanging on every word, anticipant and validated every time she’d take a break to talk with us. Her banter was fun and appreciative, giving the District a lot of love (including the National Museum of Health and Medicine) and definitely winning everyone over with a pretty awesome bondage chair story. Following it all was a meet and greet, which I sadly missed but plenty of folks stuck for from what I’ve heard. Considering that old adage about never meeting your idols, it’s probably for the best. Because the truth is, when (if) I grow up, I want to play guitar like Annie Clark.

…oh, she also had Prince blasting before the show and came out to Ice Cube’s “Today Was A Good Day”. AMAZING.

End gushfest. Enjoy Francis’ awesome pics.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
• 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
• 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club