A roller coaster of styles wound through the Larimer Lounge on Saturday, alternating bare-bones acoustic folk with full-on indie rock from the Windy City. The impossibly hip-looking European couple Mi and L’au, a.k.a. Mira Romantschuk and Laurent Leclère, were the second of two folkies to play, each contributing guitar and vocals to their hushed, glacially paced songs.
The duo drew a healthy crowd for its first Denver appearance, and their burgeoning mythology didn’t hurt. The pair met in 2001, fell in love and began making music together, eventually moving from Paris to an isolated cabin in rural Finland. Mi, a pale, bone-thin Finnish blond, and L’au, a rustic-looking French soundtrack composer, sound great on record – like a cross between the pointed weirdness of Devendra Banhart’s freak-folk and the calm of Low’s early records.
But at the Larimer, the drunken conversations in the back of the bar drowned out their thin, soft voices, compelling a few audience members to “shush” the rest. During the melodic “They Marry,” someone in the crowd blurted out what the rest were probably thinking: “Why doesn’t (the soundman) just turn them up?” It didn’t help that the band seemed completely uninterested in adapting their style to the audience’s volume. In a coffee shop, it would have been perfect. In a loud, crowded rock club it was like trying to hear a sparrow chirping over a jet engine.
– John Wenzel
The Laylights
The Laylights’ unrelenting set Feb. 7 at Forest Room 5 made an airtight case for rock ‘n’ roll as an Olympic sport. The Denver band is fearless, and this show showcased its manic dexterity and epic sound.
Playing the unusual Highlands bar as part of the Rockstars Are Dead! floating club night, The Laylights reigned over the large crowd like a dictator with his finger on the button. The vibe inside the bar was warm, but the band’s ’60s-influenced garage meld tore through the space with an odd and unexpected chill. It was a potent blast and the ideal midnight lead-in to Peter Black’s increasingly popular club night.
– Ricardo Baca
Patsy DeCline
Lannie Garrett donned her ratted red wig and rhinestone-studded leather Feb. 4 for the second weekend of Patsy DeCline shows at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret in the D&F Tower. (The show runs through April.)
Pasty DeCline – not to be confused with the late country music icon with a similar name – is Garrett’s washed-up, country-music parody. The character falls someplace between Dolly Parton and Tracey Ullman.
There’s good news here for people suspicious of the show because they’re not country-music fans: Garrett’s band is tops. Using such garish stage names as Neal Down and Chester Drawers, this five-piece leads Patsy DeCline through spaghetti western and country classics sprinkled with rock riffs and laced with bawdy humor.
Even though the staff on Saturday was still working out opening kinks, making seating and service less efficient than it could be, this show and this venue are proving to be a fantastic addition to downtown’s Denver’s going-out options.
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
