Photo credit: Sara Bill
For the sake of one’s own sanity, it’s probably unwise to try to understand, with any real precision, why one act should find rapid success over another of a similar caliber. You could perhaps take an academic, interdisciplinary approach, combine chaos theory, cultural anthropology and a meticulous reading of industry trends, but it’s a lot simpler to chalk it up to some ineffable X factor and call it a day. Take Sylvan Esso, who, based on the strength of a single self-titled album, have found themselves on the receiving end of an enormous amount of attention, but for reasons that are a little hard to discern. It’s not as if they’re undeserving or anything. Between Amelia Meath’s emotive voice and Nick Sanborn’s roomy production they’re a rather charming dance pop duo but, when the music world is already lousy with charming dance pop duos, why should Sylvan Esso in particular strike such a chord? Friday’s show, as enjoyable as it was, didn’t provide many answers.
To give you an idea of how quickly the Durham, N.C.-based pair has blown up, they were initially slated to play Cactus Club but due to demand the show was moved to the much-larger Pabst Theater, which isn’t too impressive on its own, especially since Sanborn, a former Milwaukeean, made quite a name for himself locally before relocating to North Carolina, but they then managed to sell out the new venue too, no small feat for even a far more established band. It was incredibly obvious who the psyched-up crowd was there to see, but the current tour does have a notable opener in Dosh, a Twin Cities solo artist who uses live-recorded loops of electric piano, organic percussion and various other sound sources to build carefully balanced, densely layered soundscapes. He got a deservedly warm reception, but appeared to sense the anticipation in the room, using song breaks to sing the headliner’s praises, noting that they were still totally down to earth despite being famous.
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Beyond the aw-shucks humility of their stage banter though, there’s nothing the least bit slick about Sylvan Esso. They’re clearly playing the kind of songs they want play, even if a few of them stray into the kind of trendy tweeness Apple uses to sell iPhones. The setlist wasn’t exactly a surprise (they’ve only got the one album after all), and they worked their way through it over the course of an hour or so, beginning with the lively lead-off track “Hey Mami.” Sanborn typically skews downtempo and Meath’s vocals have a wounded quality, but both are at their best whenever the B.P.M. ramps up—not that the audience seemed to draw any sort of distinction. They belted out the lyrics to nearly every number, including the breakout single “Coffee,” up until the pair ran out and appeased them with a couple of covers as an encore. All told, Sylvan Esso is a good band, no matter how eager people are for them to be great.
