In January, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon posted a righteous rant to his blog: “I think it should be a law that to use Auto-Tune, you are required to have a license, based on your ability to sing without it. I believe that Auto-Tune and beat detective and all of those things that digital has brought to recording is killing the art of good musicianship and if we do not do something to change this, then the next generation of music will have nothing to offer.” Though Pitchfork reported his comments at face value, the words weren't actually his. Vernon had copied them from an online message board, later explaining, “I just thought it was funny that somebody hates something as silly as [a] digital music tool that much.”
That Pitchfork would take such a ridiculous rant at face value speaks to how deep-set the perception of Vernon as a folk-music traditionalist is, but this year in particular Vernon has challenged that reputation. After his recent collaborations with Kanye West and his work with the soft-rock and R&B ensemble Gayngs, the idea of the folk savior digitalizing his earthy voice with a pop-music effect no longer seems as shocking as it did last year, when he first dabbled in Auto-Tune on Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP.
Vernon sang exclusively in Auto-Tune at last night's Gayngs concert at the Turner Hall Ballroom, the group's second-ever show, following their Minneapolis live debut this summer. Advertisements for the concert played up Vernon's involvement, but if any Bon Iver fans really did go into the show blind, expecting to see Vernon flanneled and acoustic, they would have been hard pressed to recognize the songwriter in his white shirt, bowtie and shades, playing an electric guitar and singing into a microphone that processed his voice even when he spoke to the crowd between songs.
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Recorded with two dozen musicians connected to the Minneapolis and Eau Clair music scenes, Gayngs' debut album, Relayted, is a mostly sincere tribute to '80s adult-contemporary rock, quiet storm, smooth jazz and other thoroughly out of vogue sounds. Touring with a 10-man lineup, the band treated its source material with similar respect live, but wore wide smirks that assured the crowd they were aware of its novelty. If it was all a joke, the audience was certainly in on it. The crowd applauded hardest during the band's softest moments, cheering especially during the band's frequent, Kenny G-esque sax solos.
With The Rosebuds' Ivan Howard taking center stage, singing co-lead with Vernon while the band's creator Ryan Olson manned a laptop from the stage's shadowy back corner, the group performed Relayted in its entirety, padding it with a pair of covers: a standout version of Sade's “By Your Side” and an encore rendition of Alan Parson's “Eye in the Sky.” Both were much needed additions to a set that sometimes lagged. Gayngs recorded every song on Relayted at 69 BPM, a decision that made the album stand well as a mood piece, letting each song flow into the next, but that translated into a sometimes monotonous live show. Running through the album in order also robbed the set of much of its suspense.
The band was smart to keep the show short, barely over an hour, ending before the novelty wore out its welcome. At their best, Gayngs make a strong and clever defense for unpopular music, demonstrating that outmoded sounds can yield great songs. In large doses, though, they can also be a reminder of why those sounds fell out of fashion in the first place.
Photo by CJ Foeckler
