Nickel Eye was even more boring that Nikolai Fraiture looks in this picture. Photo from .
It’s too easy to compare an artist’s new project to the band that made them famous. No doubt Nikolai Fraiture is best known as the bassist for NYC pretty boys , but previous to the show on Monday night at the , I had no knowledge of what his new band sounded like. To avoid cop-out blanket comparisons, I chose instead to go with a blank slate and enjoy Fraiture’s solo work with the backing of UK band .
Opening with “Everytime,” Nickel Eye moved about the stage with caution, Fraiture taking the lead as the three vocalists jolted meekly, virtually tethered to their microphones. With his eyes hidden behind a split curtain of brown hair and a deep, furrowing brow that seemed to cast a shadow over his whole face, Fraiture made small talk with the sparse audience, noting the terrible weather as being a possible cause for such a low turnout.
Nickel Eye made the best of the situation and continued on with “You and Everyone Else,” the crowd gathering close to the foot of the stage as they danced lightly with the ragged beat. By the third song, “Back From Exile,” Fraiture’s monotone apathy had already begun to wear on my ears, his deadpan sound matching the blank look he would wear for most of the evening.
Fraiture took out his harmonica for “Fountain Avenue,” a slower track that was beautifully executed musically, but seemed hampered by his own lukewarm voice. “Providence, RI” played out like a pseudo-country ballad, followed by “Another Sunny Afternoon” highlighted again by his harmonica.
A break from the monotony came in the form of a Talking Heads cover, a chipper rendition of “This Must Be the Place.” Fraiture momentarily stepped out of his sleepy haze, his voice jumping with mild excitement. The burst of energy carried into Nickel Eye’s last song, “Dying Star,” a loud, raucous ending to a virtually unmoving set.
Nickel Eye’s set was kept short, proving to be a gentle blessing. The earnest musicianship of the foursome was solid, but their talent was too often overshadowed by Fraiture’s tepid drawl, so boring and one-noted at times I thought I might pass out from boredom. If I were compare Nickel Eye with Fraiture’s other famous band, I would pin it on his ability to suck the apathy-dripped bottom out of Julian Casablancas’ charming delivery. But even that is a stretch.
Once I got home, I listened to a few tracks from their just-released “The Time of the Assassins.” I think it will go down as an album I will never listen to ever again.
Bree Davies plays bass in , writes about her obsessions with Iggy Pop and Lil’ Wayne in and repeatedly fakes her own death at . She is also a self-proclaimed addict.
