Show Poster
Setlist
Tour Dates
Apr 07 The Blue Moose Tap House Iowa City, IA
Apr 08 Waiting Room Lounge Omaha, NE Apr 10 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO Apr 11 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT Apr 12 The Knitting Factory Boise, ID Read More
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Do you remember the first time you saw Arcade Fire perform “Wake Up” live and at the beginning when the crowd all join together to do the “Aaaah-aaaaah” section, how the hair stood up on the back of your neck and you felt like you were part of something bigger than yourself? Maybe you even got a little tear in your eye or a chill down your spine? And you thought, “THIS is why I love music”? Okay, well, maybe that’s just me… but I had that feeling again last Thursday night while watching an 11-member band from Portland, Oregon called Typhoon. Trust me on this one, if you’re jaded with what you’re listening to, they will make you fall in love with music all over again.
First the backstory, if you’re not familiar with it: Typhoon songwriter Kyle Morton spent his adolescence in and out of hospitals as he suffered through a devastating battle with Lyme Disease, contracted when he was 12 years old. He ended up needing an emergency kidney transplant when he was 16. Although he’s no longer at death’s door, the prolonged illness scarred him both physically (in addition to damaging his organs, his growth was stunted), and psychologically. He found that songwriting is the best therapy for processing his trauma – and luckily for us, it turns out he’s a brilliant songwriter. His deeply personal songs about mortality and struggle are somehow incredibly uplifting, and his band have the rare ability to take these fragile little songs and turn them into full-blown, all horns blaring anthems.
During Typhoon’s show at Metro in Chicago, they strode onstage to great applause before hushing the crowd with the opening track off their latest album White Lighter (album of the year, people!), “Artificial Light”. The skill of the band is amply demonstrated on this track, which goes from off-kilter opening verses, through a rocking, shouting horn-laden middle section, before it changes tempo and becomes a gentle love song. Then Kyle stands before us and sings the final lines: “The light goes off / hope it comes back on / I’ll be here in my familiar haunts / with a broken jar / and a stolen song / wait for the light / to come back… “ And the entire band sings the word “on” in unison (more like “oooooooooooooooooon”) and the whole room is lifted. It’s that Arcade Fire feeling! And just the first of many – in fact, in the middle of the next song, “Common Sentiments,” the crowd joins in and we all sing along with the “Aaaaaahhhhhhhh” before the horn flourish.
With 11 members there is plenty going on in every song. Two drummers, two violinists (who also provide the female vocals), two trumpet players. But at all times there’s no doubt that Kyle Morton is the one in charge. He confidently banters with the crowd, smiling even as he sings some of the most tragic songs of recent times. In “The Lake” he recalls contracting his illness and how it led to estrangement from his sister; in “Morton’s Fork” he sings of the fear of death; in “CPR / Claws Part 2” he sings of the weariness of living with illness: “I wanna live but I don’t wanna live.”
But despite the heaviness of the subject matter, the mood is sky high throughout the show. As with Belle and Sebastian and The Decemberists, the girls in the band – violinist/vocalists Shannon Steele and Jen Hufnagel – are much beloved and when they take their vocal turn in “Young Fathers” the crowd whoops and hollers enthusiastically. At the end of “Summer House” – a song in which Morton is singing about trying to hold onto life to see another summer – a man in the crowd shouts, “F*** Yeah!!!” to much laughter and obvious delight from the band.
The emotional apex of the show came eight songs in when Morton insisted we all join him with a sing-along during “Dreams of Cannibalism”. “Unhand me, I am not a criminal,” we all sang, in another Arcade Fire moment. “And If I am I paid the man, just let me go / Soon enough you will be dancing at my funeral”. And we carried that final note and continued to rise and rise until our voices all flew off into the cold Chicago sky and we collapsed in breathless laughter. Laughing, smiling, to a line like that. That’s the Typhoon experience in a nutshell. Seriously, if you haven’t checked them out yet, please do! In a just world, they soon won’t be playing any venues as small as the Metro.
Opening for Typhoon were the new-wave sounding Wild Ones and, to my delight, the also-quite-amazing Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (the musical alias of Aly Spaltro). Looking a bit like the Olsen twins’ hip indie cousin, Spaltro lit up the stage during her too-short eight song opening set. I would provide a setlist but she played quite a few songs I didn’t recognize, including two brand new songs. I was delighted that she also included excellent versions of “Bird Balloons,” “Aubergine,” and “You Are the Apple” off her debut album Ripely Pine. When she was getting ready to end the set due to the time pressures of a curfew at the venue, she was convinced by her bandmates that there was enough time for a lovely solo banjo rendition of “Regarding Ascending the Stairs”.
As I listened to her powerful, emotive voice I thought to myself how it’s ironic that so many people waste their time with talent shows like American Idol when there are real, vibrant talents like Aly’s out here in the world, waiting for the masses to take notice. I can only hope that Lady Lamb the Beekeeper and Typhoon both become household names in the near future.
Kyle Morton
Typhoon
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Kyle Morton - “having fun in Chicago”
Typhoon
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With 11 members there is plenty going on in every song. Two drummers, two violinists (who also provide the female vocals), two trumpet players. But at all times there’s no doubt that Kyle Morton is the one in charge. He confidently banters with the crowd, smiling even as he sings some of the most tragic songs of recent times. In “The Lake” he recalls contracting his illness and how it led to estrangement from his sister; in “Morton’s Fork” he sings of the fear of death; in “CPR / Claws Part 2” he sings of the weariness of living with illness: “I wanna live but I don’t wanna live.”
Ryan McAlpin
Typhoon
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The emotional apex of the show came eight songs in when Morton insisted we all join him with a sing-along during “Dreams of Cannibalism”. “Unhand me, I am not a criminal,” we all sang, in another Arcade Fire moment. “And If I am I paid the man, just let me go / Soon enough you will be dancing at my funeral”. And we carried that final note and continued to rise and rise until our voices all flew off into the cold Chicago sky and we collapsed in breathless laughter. Laughing, smiling, to a line like that. That’s the Typhoon experience in a nutshell. Seriously, if you haven’t checked them out yet, please do! In a just world, they soon won’t be playing any venues as small as the Metro.
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
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As I listened to her powerful, emotive voice I thought to myself how it’s ironic that so many people waste their time with talent shows like American Idol when there are real, vibrant talents like Aly’s out here in the world, waiting for the masses to take notice. I can only hope that Lady Lamb the Beekeeper and Typhoon both become household names in the near future.
Typhoon at Metro, Chicago (04/03/14) Left to Right: Shannon Steele, Jen Hufnagel, and Dave Hall |