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So Many Dynamos, Lit Lounge, NY

Live Reviews

You have to admire So Many Dynamos.

22nd October 2009, Lit Lounge, NY / By Tristan Bennett
So Many Dynamos You have to admire So Many Dynamos. In a music-scape strewn with discarded Hoovers, with pots and pans and all the other hallmarks of indie innovation, they prove yet again that really, it's all about how hard you can rock.

If you've never seen a photo of this band, don't worry. Their set up, from Converse to keyboard, is fairly run of the mill. Their look, that winsome blend of boyish good looks and bashful concern for the microphone all echo the numerous models laid out by contemporaries. Even the drummer, a bald, serious looking guy named Clayton, bobs around above his skins in that way that drummers do. And yet, deep into the second song, long after the tiny venue and too-loud amplification have blended the whole sound into a bubbling melodic mush, the energy of these performers begins to shine through. But the reason So Many Dynamos are special is still hard to pin down.

It doesn't quite make sense, until somewhere in the third or fourth song you realize that vocalist Aaron Stovall has begun to melt. Sucking briefly for breath, beating out the time in wild foot stomps and keyboard, it's impossible not to enjoy this sort of single-minded ecstasy. Add to Stovall's sweaty ardor the sight of guitarist Griffin Kay doing his best impression of Elvis's ankles, and the whole evening feels more like a sticky rite of passage than showing up to hear this band play.

Having just released 'The Loud Wars' in June, it's not surprising to hear a number of tracks from that, their most recent album. But So Many Dynamos also pepper their show with selections of their previous work, chanting the lyrics to 'Progress' in hypnotic flat-line against the pedal-powered sophistication of the band's masterful instrumentation. Unfortunately what makes So Many Dynamos so worth listening to at home is exactly what's missing from their live show. The same stories-tall stacking of tracks which defines 'The Loud Wars' is just not possible in a venue the size of a Chinese take away. Luckily, that's not at all what it's about.

Careening through 'New Bones', sacrificing the small sounds and touches that make the song a studio success, the whole composition is rewritten for the moment, pouring forth from the stage as something new. The same bass line is there. As is the same sinuous, worming catchiness of 'The Loud Wars'. But presented on stage, amid the throbbing humidity and pushy crowd, it's an act born to die in the moment, messily, for all to see. And afterwards, stepping out hot into a cold October night, what more could you ask for? Rating: 7/10
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