Considering the last couple of weeks here in the New York metropolitan area, and the Eastern Seaboard, a couple of weeks ago seems like a different life – but a couple of weeks ago, I caught St. Lucia and Escort at Escort’s First Annual Halloween Show at Webster Hall.
- I caught St. Lucia at Brooklyn Bowl a couple of months back, and after catching them at Webster Hall, I have to admit that I was even more impressed, and liked them more the second time around. And although the band had just flown in from a Los Angeles gig, you wouldn’t be able to tell – they played with an infectious, amiable energy, and in many ways, it seemed as though the crowd and band fed off each other. What was truly interesting was how a number of the early concertgoers were familiar with St. Lucia’s material, singing along lustily to most of the set. (It also helped that much of the material consisted of the songs from the self-titled EP.)
inspired track has become one of my favorite St. Lucia tracks. I suspect that the
crowd lost their minds as soon as they heard it – and it helps that it’s one of the
slicker dance songs St. Lucia has ever done. It’s a straight up, club banger. In any
case, live the band sounds pretty close to the actual recorded material; granted, with
some obvious variations – there was a bit more room to stretch out songs a bit,
and as a live unit, the material has both a muscular insistence while possessing
fairly organic feel. Yes, many of the songs employ synths but like Washed Out
(whom St. Lucia will be fairly compared to) but much of the material can be
replicated with live instrumentation. They won me over, and I think that they’ll win
you over, too.
- The 17 member unit, Escort has been winning over critics and fans since they hit the scene a few years back, with their sound that mixes Donna Summer-era disco with more modern production values. And although their sound isn’t the most original thing out there. After all, if you’ve heard one disco tune, you’ve probably heard about half-a-dozen easily. But Escort does it well. Their sound employs incredibly lush arrangements similar to that of Quincy Jones’ production style and of Barry White – we’re talking about backing string sections, horns, lots of various percussion and the like. Out of all of their musicians, I was impressed by their bass player, and I have to admit that all good dance songs rely on bass. If the bassist or the bass line is shit, the song falls apart.
But if there was one MVP of the night, it was Escort’s lead singer, Adeline Michelle.
She’s sassy without being overbearing, confident without seeming like she was
overcompensating or being overly cocky, and sexy. She commanded the stage with a
regal, almost diva-like air. It fitting since she was dressed up as an Egyptian mummy
– perhaps the mummy of Cleopatra? The crowd spend their entire set dancing, and
based on their live set, Escort’s accolades are well-deserved.
St. Lucia
Escort
For these photos and the rest of the photos from this fun night of dance music, check out the Flickr set here:
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