Parts & Labor’s pieces were equally as strong as the whole at the Hi-Dive on Monday. Photos by .
If you’re a band, and someone manages to call you “experimental,” you’ve been setting up your fussboard before each show. The fussboard, while dependent on the preferences of each musician, is a waist-high table covered in pedals, pads and wires of every color. When mashing it and twisting its candylike knobs, you are not merely playing it; you are engaging with it, or overseeing it. These days, lots of bands play the fussboard — included.
Since becoming a four-piece, Parts & Labor have pushed their sound beyond the clangy and discordant to become an anthem machine. As they stepped quietly into the first song of their Monday night set at the — “Satellites,” off their new album “Receivers” — master fussboardist Dan Friel began to sing with a hush akin to a quit-smoking hypnosis tape. After a brief buildup, the lungs on both Friel and bassist BJ Warshaw burst, emptying out in a throaty blast. The guitar, supplied by newcomer Sarah Lipstate, screamed over octaves as Ms. Lipstate pressed a tape recorder to the pickups.
Mr. Warsaw, whose bass was set to “blatty,” elicited glee from a fan who exclaimed “His bass even LOOKS like Mike Watt’s!” The music, considerably retooled after abandoning the strict diet of electronics, was full, loud and energetically healthy, just like someone who goes for a short run in the mornings.
Pitter-pattering in the background were a few friendly bleeps and samples, which ebbed and flowed with soothing subtlety. The songs still managed to go off on a few experimental tangents — brief ones, like verbal tics — but the format was considerably standard. In this case, “standard” is not a cop-out; Parts & Labor knows how to write well-textured songs with considerable horsepower. While obviously characterized by anthems, the set had a directed, deliberate, charge-ahead feel.
Later in the evening, P&L played “Changing of the Guard,” from their 2006 release “Stay Afraid,” prefaced by a solemn introduction: “This song is about the protests at the first Bush inauguration.” A-ha. There’s no escaping any mention of politics this week. But they carried it off well; you can rest assured that a band like this won’t write any weepy, feeble protest songs. Again — dare I say it? — with the anthem. Once more, with feeling! The quartet’s chemistry hit another high, with well-arranged instrumentation and lots of exchanged smiles. An honorable mention goes to new drummer Joe Wong, who joyously knocked out beats with a paradoxically amusing stiffness.
Eventually, as all good things must do, the show drew to an end. The passive audience, who had previously colored me nonplussed, suddenly came to life and demanded an encore. Unable to play 2007’s “Fake Rain” — they joked that their resident noob, Sarah, hadn’t yet learned it — they
compromised, and when they did finally bow out, they drew eager (and deserved) applause.
Nothing like a good, satisfying show from a band who knows how to transition without the bony awkward phase. My only complaint is that I’ll miss the leg of their tour with Gowns, the new project by ex-Mae Shi Ezra Buchla. Three cheers for Parts & Labor — for branching out with marked success.
Alex Edgeworth is a Denver writer and regular Reverb contributor.
is a Denver freelance photographer and regular Reverb contributor.
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