By Micah McLain
Rachel Goodrich's music is the
definition of DIY, with the ever present harmonica-turned-kazoo holder around
her neck, the seemingly beginner acoustic guitar arrangements that serve as the
foundation of her songs and the fact that her drummer's "kit" consists of a
single bass drum. During her opening set, she impressed the audience at the
Unicorn with her infectiously fun lo-fi set of self-coined "shakeabilly" as her
band had members of the audience dancing and shaking tambourines along with the
band within the first few songs. Goodrich and Co. capped off their successful
set with
Tinker Toys standout track "Little Brass Bear" before heading
off to greet fans and sell some merch in the back of the club as The Harpoons
began to sound check.
Ezra Furman is nothing if not unique. We all know
the type - that awkward guy reading some obscure comic book in the back of your
high school classroom. He doesn't talk much but when he does it's almost always
interesting, thoughtful and/or humorous; he just seems to lack some of the usual
social skills. Furman is the absolute embodiment of the misunderstood genius.
Along with his band The Harpoons, Furman creates some of the weirdest,
catchiest, most thoughtful indie rock on the East Coast. The original title of
the band's set (Furman gives each set of the tour a unique name) was "Hopeless
Optimist," a title that he began to explain before losing his train of thought,
abandoning his effort and launching the band into the punk rock-tinged "The
Moon." Furman's nasal vocal delivery can be quite grating upon first listen but
the emotion of his delivery and quirkiness of his lyrics quickly grow on the
listener.
Although the band had to fight through a few technical
difficulties during the beginning of their set, they soon hit their stride.
Furman led the band through a focused set featuring cuts from both LPs Inside
the Human Body and Banging Down the Doors. The Harpoons employ the
usual four-piece band setup and create a punk meets folk and blues sound, but
it's Furman's wide range of song topics and heartfelt vocal delivery (including
random yips and yells) that really draw the crowd in. Some of Furman's more
creative song topics include tales of mistakenly catching a flight to Africa
instead of Japan with your fiance, the trials of faceless boys and handless
girls, and God as a middle-aged woman. By the time The Harpoons finished their
set with their biggest single "Take Off Your Sunglasses" and the bouncing,
guitar-driven "We Should Fight," the majority of the crowd had begun to come
around and realize that this weird kid singing, jerking and screaming on stage
might just be the leader of one of the best bands to grace the Drunken Unicorn's
stage over the last few years.
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