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Flashback: Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom, New York City (16 Oct 2009)

Read More Asobi Seksu I’m sure I don’t need to remind Asobi Seksu fans that the band’s name roughly translates as “fun sex,” so I won’t, even though I did. Teeny tiny Yuki (small singer night!) is Asian (obvious) and they all call New York home. So, sexy name + Asian singer

Since most of the heavy lifting was already written about Shoegaze Asobi Seksu at the tiny 7th Street Entry a few days prior (in 2009), we decided to just publish some photos from New York’s Bowery Ballroom with this brief description: “The band was deafening. Yuki was adorable. The crowd swooned. All in all, it was a very successful night and an emotional victory for anyone below the 5’2” mark.”

Unfortunately, due to the passage of time, the original photos are no longer available online. The photo used below is taken from a public image via ZimmyD.

Openers were probably the same bands: Anna Ternheim and Loney Dear.

This is their tour schedule (at the time)

10/10/09 Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL
10/11/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
10/12/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON
10/13/09 Il Motore Montreal, QC
10/14/09 Great Scott Boston, MA
10/15/09 Maxwells Hoboken, NJ
10/16/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
10/17/09 Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA
10/28/09 Delirio Alternativo, Colombia
10/29/09 Teatro Julieta Lima, Peru
10/31/09 Insomnia Lima, Peru
11/18/09 Bournemouth Academy UK
11/19/09 Brixton Academy London, UK
11/20/09 Brixton Academy London, UK
11/22/09 Leeds Academy Leeds, UK
11/23/09 UEA Norwich, UK
11/24/09 Sheffield Academy UK
11/25/09 Rock City Nottingham, UK
11/27/09 Apollo Manchester, UK
11/28/09 Glasgow Academy UK
11/29/09 Newcastle Academy UK
12/01/09 Guildhall Portsmouth, UK
12/02/09 Bristol Academy Bristol, UK
12/04/09 Cardiff University Cardiff, UK
12/05/09 Birmingham Academy, UK

Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom, New York (16 Oct 2009) photo by ZimmyD

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Flashback: Asobi Seksu at the 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 Oct 2009)

Setlist New Years Strawberries Meh No Mae Layers Me & Mary Nefi + Girly In the Sky Thursday Familiar Light Transparence Red Sea -- Encore -- Strings Read More Asobi Seksu I’m sure I don’t need to remind Asobi Seksu fans that the band’s name roughly translates as “fun sex,” so I won’t, even though I did. Teeny tiny Yuki (small singer night!) is Asian (obvious) and they all call New York home. So, sexy name + Asian singer Loney, Dear I had previously seen Loney, Dear (Yes, it’s “Loney,” not “Lonely.” Sorry, Spellcheck.) at Soundfix Lounge, a far more smaller, intimate venue. It was a lovely show, but I wondered if it would translate well into the much bigger Music Hall of Williamsburg. Anna Ternheim It's been a year since I briefly mention Anna Ternheim, but I am very excited to let you know that the Swedish singer's latest album, Leaving on a mayday will be available in the US, finally, on August 11th (I think the album is already available in her home country).

This was mostly a Swedish show, headlined by shoegaze Asobi Seksu at the tiny 7th Street Entry. I remember that I was really happy how the photos turned out for this show. Around this time, I think I was using an Olympus 4/3 camera.

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Anna Ternheim was the only artist that we haven't reviewed live, so I was quite excited to see her. Although she's not that well-known in the States, she's quite famous in her home country of Sweden (having won both "Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" on the Swedish Grammy). So for her to tour here, at very intimate settings, is such a boon. In fact, there was a group of Swedish fans (like six of them) who visited Minneapolis just to see Anna in such a small venue.

Ternheim's "band" was basically stolen from Loney Dear (we'll get to him later). They adapted well to playing (and backup singing) her songs. My favorite from the set was, of course, "What Have I Done". This song feature this distinctive violin, which was replicated by pre-recording, so no live violas on stage.

So embarrassingly enough, I only had a brief chance to play around with the Pen camera's setting. At the show, for Anna Ternheim, I could not figure out how to change my shutter speed and ISO settings. Thanks to Erik who looked it up to tell me that the up/down/left/right d-pad doubles as a wheel! Who knew?

The only thing I savaged out of Ternheim is this video of her performing "Let It Rain", which includes the lyrics that would inspired the title of her latest album, Leaving on a mayday.

Loney Dear

The same band that played for Ternheim came back for Emil Svanängen, aka Loney Dear. Loney has been doing this musician for a while now. You can just tell, the way he handles himself on the stage and the way he manipulate his audience - yes, he made the audience do that "na-na-na-na" chorus from "The Meter Marks OK".

Compared to Ternheim's set Loney's set was much longer, or at least it felt more like a full set. To be honest, it seems that Loney could continue to play for another hour. He kept asking the soundguy (who was probably with the touring bands as it was not the typical staff guy) if they could have four more minutes to play one more song.

I read that Asobi Seksu's Yuki was small, but wow, she's really small. Sometime, I think the loud noise of guitar, bass, drums, and effects, drowns out Yuki's voice. So, combined with my already damaged hearing, I could not make out what she's singing about. Something about cats and strawberries and rain or something.

While this may be attributed to the fact that they were already late on arriving at 7th Street, due to some detours driving from Vancouver, Canada, which resulted in no soundcheck, I just think the band is normally loud when played live.

Setlist

One thing I will mention is that the band is incredibly hard to shoot, due to poor lighting, because they wanted to emphasis on their own line of blue lights and strobes effect lights and combined with Yuki's hair-in-face and/or looking away.

They started off with "New Years", a Japanese song that's been a staple of their intro song since 2006. They played "Thursday", which I know a few people liked, and for the finale, Yuki took over the drumming-action on "Red Sea". The final song was ridden with all-out strobe light city. It's very cool effects when you see them on stage, blinking in and out, but yeah, not so much for photosensitive epilepsy people.

This is one of the best bill for a band I've seen in a while, so it's definitely worth it to see them all together.

PS, Stay tuned for Kate G's update on Asobi Seksu when they arrive in New York on the 16^th of October.

Asobi Seksu at the 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 Oct 2009) photo by Vu

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Loney Dear, Lia Ices at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (5/5/09)

Loney Dear at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (05/05/09) ♥ photo by Laura

For years, my Scandinavian Holy Trinity has been set in stone: Jens Lekman, Sondre Lerche, and Erlend Øye. These three men embody everything I love about Nordic pop: catchy melodies, depressing lyrics, and above all, debonair looks (in a lanky, pale, probably-got-beat-up-after-school kind of way). But after last night, I may have to add another Swede to that equation: Emil Svanängen, a.k.a. Loney, Dear.

I had previously seen Loney, Dear (Yes, it’s “Loney,” not “Lonely.” Sorry, Spellcheck.) at Soundfix Lounge, a far more smaller, intimate venue. It was a lovely show, but I wondered if it would translate well into the much bigger Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Lia Ices at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (05/05/09) ♥ photo by Laura Loney Dear at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (05/05/09) ♥ photo by Laura Loney Dear at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (05/05/09) ♥ photo by Laura

Things started off slowly with opener, Lia Ices. Her gradual but fierce, piano-centric ballads reminded me of slightly more subdued Frida Hyvönen. In a way, her sparse instrumentation and morose lyrics set the mood for the rest of the night. The audience remained politely quiet through most of her set, as Ices maintained an enchanting, often hypnotic stage presence. The whole girl-with-a-keyboard outfit has been done several times before, but there’s something strangely haunting about Ices that sets her apart from other singer-songwriters.

The solemn mood was somewhat lifted when Loney Dear took the stage, opening with the steady-building track, “I Was Only Going Out,” from his latest release, Dear John. Several other songs followed a similar format, and in the larger setting with his full band, the tracks were able to flourish into lush, sweeping mini-symphonies.

Svanängen’s band (which included a keyboardist who eerily resembled a somber Andy Samberg) contributed greatly to the “bigger” sound not usually associated with Loney Dear’s brand of thoughtful pop. Whether it was the more electronic tracks from Dear John or the earlier, orchestral tracks from Loney Noir and Sologne, the band added an exciting, almost urgent edge to Svanängen’s confessional lyrics.

Loney Dear - Airport Surroundings Loney Dear Tour Dates 05/08/09 Rivoli Toronto, ON 05/09/09 Schuba’s Tavern Chicago, IL 05/10/09 Cedar Cultural Minneapolis, MN 05/13/09 Crocodile Café Seattle, WA 05/14/09 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR 05/15/09 Bottom of the Hill SF, CA 05/16/09 Spaceland Los Angeles, CA 05/17/09 UCSD San Diego, CA See Also Jens Lekman http://weheartmus... I'm not gonna claim to have the most macho music collection in the world---nay, my playlists are ...

My initial concern of Loney Dear’s quiet demeanor clashing with a larger venue was quickly put to rest. Svanängen has a knack for endearing and warmly funny stage banter, and within moments, the audience was smitten. He even managed to pull of the impossible: an audience sing-along that was not completely awful. Choosing the simple na-na-na-na chorus from “The Meter Marks OK,” Svanängen led the audience like a junior high choir teacher. Considering that the crowd that night mostly consisted of PBR-slinging, hipper-than-thou Brooklynites – it was quite a feat.

Of course, none of it would have been possible without Svanängen’s unassuming and shyly charismatic personality. Whether it was through his heartfelt lyrics or random witticisms, he gave off an immediate sense of likability. It is somewhat telling that the two grown men (both in vaguely corporate attire) behind me had the following conversation midway through the set:

Guy #1: I haven’t been this happy since I was a kid.
Guy #2: This is just beautiful. Beautiful.
Guy #1: I know. I just want to… touch him.

I know how you feel, Guy #1. And just when Svanängen couldn’t get any sweeter, he ended the show with the fitting track, “Dear John.” With just him and his guitar on stage, he sang, “Sleep well, tonight. Sleep while you can.” It was a beautiful ending to an intimate and charming show. So charming, in fact, that Jens, Sondre, and Erlend may have to watch their backs.

 05/07/2009 23:24:27  ♥ kateg () ♥ loneydear.com ♥ myspace.com/loneydear ♥ liaices.com