Retribution Gospel Choir at Orpheum Stage Door and Phosphorescent at Rathskeller
Retribution Gospel Choir's Alan Sparhawk at the Stage Door.
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Most live bands seem a little puny and frivolous when compared to Retribution Gospel Choir. The trio plays guitar rock with an old-fashioned directness and purity that holds up well in any era. The band could be compared to classic rock, except, as Friday’s show at the Orpheum Stage Door pointed out, it doesn't rip off classic rock like other bands these days. Sure, you can certainly tell that guitarist and singer Alan Sparhawk is also the mood-wracked innovator of Low, because Retribution Gospel Choir’s music is just too bleak and craftily stripped-down to be anyone else's. But with Eric Pollard’s drums and Low bandmate Steve Garrington’s bass behind it, Sparhawk’s scuffed-up Les Paul becomes a furious noise-and-riffs machine. The three wore matching black button-up shirts (and Pollard and Sparhawk wore ties), coming off like a dapper but never quite cocky hit squad.
The band’s self-titled album from last year sounds like a tidy template compared to the live set. Onstage, the songs have plenty of space for improvisation, and additional layers of the loops and delayed noise that wriggle out of Sparhawk’s guitar. The crowd was small, but everyone got up in front of the stage for the kind of set that makes it pointless to take notes. The response was so friendly that Sparhawk joked, “We need to stop being so gracious to each other, maybe.” Like a lot of the Retribution Gospel Choir’s songs, “Breaker” (also recorded as a Low song) hit like a chilling wave, gripping and exciting in its utter starkness. The night also had a few sweet moments, especially the sing-along choruses of “Kids”: “Those damn kids / Don’t they understand / That you can’t do shit like that?”
Sparhawk often seemed off in his own little world, nodding in a daze and lashing his guitar around during instrumental freakouts that lashed right back into the songs, especially during set-closer, “Take Your Time.” The band doesn’t have a conveniently labeled sound to sell this niche-ridden music world. But that means there’s nothing to stand between it and the folks who come out for the shows.
Phosphorescent at Rathskeller
Phosphorescent fought off a lousy P.A. mix Saturday night at the Rathskeller, only to perform its inventively updated take on folk for an audience that wouldn't stop chattering. (Does any of this sound familiar yet?) Returning to Madison as a quintet led by Matthew Houck, the Brooklyn group opened with “A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise,” a waltzing ballad centered around the raspy melodies of Houck’s vocals, which seemed to dance across the strums of his acoustic guitar. The entire band (except for drummer Chris Marine) sang backup and impressively recaptured the rich, gospel-like harmonies of Houck’s recorded work.
Phosphorescent fought off a lousy P.A. mix Saturday night at the Rathskeller, only to perform its inventively updated take on folk for an audience that wouldn't stop chattering. (Does any of this sound familiar yet?) Returning to Madison as a quintet led by Matthew Houck, the Brooklyn group opened with “A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise,” a waltzing ballad centered around the raspy melodies of Houck’s vocals, which seemed to dance across the strums of his acoustic guitar. The entire band (except for drummer Chris Marine) sang backup and impressively recaptured the rich, gospel-like harmonies of Houck’s recorded work.
“I guess it’s no secret that I’m a huge Willie Nelson fan,” Houck said. He just released To Willie, an album comprised entirely of songs by the country singer. The band trudged onward with an energized rendition of Nelson’s “Reasons To Quit,” as Houck joined a middle-aged woman in front of the stage for a dance, twirling her around as she mouthed along with the words.
Throughout the set—which pulled largely from To Willie, 2007's Pride, and 2005's Aw Come Aw Wry—Houck's backing band brought a rugged energy to the songs, replacing the recorded versions’ reluctance and paranoia with tight-knit vigor. Keyboardist and vocalist Scott Stapleton glued the songs together, hammering away soulfully and nailing all of his Joe Cocker-lite backing harmonies. The meandering basslines of Jeff Bailey strapped tightly into the dynamic drum hits of Chris Marine, as lead guitarist Jesse Anderson Alnslle dripped his aqueous textures over the top.
“Mama there’s wolves in the house / Mama they won’t let me out,” crooned Houck, as the lyrically restless set highlight, “Wolves,” punched its way through a wall of hiss and crackling produced by some shitty mixing. For the final two numbers, it was just Houck and his acoustic guitar, with Alnslle and Stapleton singing back-up, which ultimately made it more difficult for them to compete with crowd’s chattering—especially during a haunting rendition of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody.” The set came to an abrupt close after “When We Fall,” when the soundman told Houck that the rest of the band couldn’t take the stage for one last song because he had already “shut everything down,” sealing the Rathskeller’s place as the most disappointing venue in Madison.
