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Larkin Grimm/Live Review
Time Out NY/Sophie Harris
There are some shows that make you so grateful you braved the pouring rain/trek across town/Sunday night ennui to get there—the sort of shows where you think, Aargh, imagine if I’d missed this! And last night’s Akron/Family–Larkin Grimm gig at Union Pool was just such a performance.
TIME OUT NY ONLINE
REVIEW OF LARKIN AND AKRON/FAMILY SHOW UNION POOL BROOKLYN
By Sophie Harris
3/30/09
Larkin Grimm and Akron/Family rock Union Pool
Posted in The Volume by Sophie Harris on March 30th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
There are some shows that make you so grateful you braved the pouring
rain/trek across town/Sunday night ennui to get there—the sort of shows
where you think, Aargh, imagine if I’d missed this! And last night’s
Akron/Family–Larkin Grimm gig at Union Pool was just such a performance.
First off, for the out-and-out brilliance of Young God signee and LES res
Larkin Grimm, whom we tipped in December.
The delicate arrangements and spindly, folkish tones on her debut album,
Parplar, suggest a kind of wan, winsome character, as does her Grimm’s
fairytale background (born into a cult, Grimm hitchhiked her way across
Alaska, was befriended by a shaman, joined Dirty Projectors…). But in
person, she’s earthy, ribald and hella funny. Having discovered that the
crowd was up for a sing-along (“Are you guys too cool to sing?” she asked,
resulting in a chorus of voices aaaaahing to her next song), her banter got
more and more out-there (try for size, “I have the feeling that you guys are
familiar with the cosmic orgasm…”).
No surprises that Grimm was up at the front of the crowd for the
Akron/Family set, jumping about with everybody else.…
This was the last date on the current Akron tour, celebrating its
forthcoming (frankly amazing) record, Set ‘Em Wild Set ‘Em Free, and the
show had that energy unique to final dates—where band members are fried,
deliriously happy to have reached the end and up for putting their all into
it.
It helped, of course, that the trio was joined onstage by a full brass
section, who brought an Albert Ayler–style fullness to the sound—both in the
pretty, bare numbers and in the group’s beefy wig-outs. The sweat flew, the
smiles grew, and the group of very neat girls who had confoundingly
positioned their barstools at the front of the dance floor scurried away.
And then, as current single “Everyone Is Guilty” seemed to close the show,
the brass section gently stepped down into the crowd and walked (and
squawked) its way to Union Pool’s yard, followed by the band—who stood
around the campfire, with twinkly lights strung above them, and played a
too-sweet “Woodie Guthrie’s America,” the crowd happily singing along. The
Grateful Dead’s “I Know You Rider” followed, and I realized the beautiful
harmony I could hear was being sung by Larkin Grimm, who was standing behind
me. A wonderful, unexpected treat, in every way.