Bishop Allen — the soundtrack to our shopping lives. Photo by Maryanne Ventrice via MySpace.
When I’m not writing about your favorite band, I’m working at the Gap. For 20 hours a week I fold clothes, talk about denim fits and “The Hills” with my co-workers and learn about music. Yes, for the past four years, the Gap’s pre-selected soundtrack has introduced me to Brazilian Girls, CSS and Saturday nightap performers, .
The happy/sad track “Rain” has been bouncing off my eardrums for the last six months during the hours of my retail bliss, but I was somehow unaware Bishop Allen were the proprietors of such a pretty song until their stellar show.
Justin Rice, one half of the mastermind behind Allen, was the simultaneously geeky and fiery front man, shaking red-faced through “Oklahoma,” as sweat dripped around the collar of his white oxford.
“Like Castanets,” moved Rice’s other half, Christian Rudder, from guitar to ukulele, creating the perfect sonic complement to Rice’s jarring and sweet vocals. Multi-instrumentalist Darbie Nowatka peered out from underneath a thick band of brown bangs as she took the lead for “Butterfly Nets” and “True or False,” her honeyed voice mellowing the rowdy and excited audience.
The also familiar “Click, Click, Click, Click” (recently used in a Sony commercial) brought Rice back front and center, the appealing coos of the chorus dripping like perspiration all over the stage. Sometimes the songs felt too gentle for the raucous crowd, but the pint glass-clinking onlookers were still very into Bishop Allen’s performance despite their distracted nature.
“Making Friends” and “Middle Management” began to signal the end of Bishop Allen’s dynamic and charming performance, and I felt a new appreciation for their bare and boisterous sound. The foursome spiraled to an inevitable close with “Flight 180,” a pacifying track that felt almost too calm to finish with. But the band could somehow sense the short attention span of the crowd, and skillfully used the bang-up songs early on in the night.
Bishop Allen played their set with efficiency and with only the crowd’s best intentions in mind, each tap of a xylophone and strum of a ukulele reminiscent of Violent Femmes basic nature as they gripped the East coast charisma of Vampire Weekend. Likable is what Allen seemed to aim for, and they hit bliss square on the head.
I would like to personally thank Bishop Allen and the person behind Gap’s store soundtracks for making my day job the best place in the mall to be at two in the afternoon. Unless you count the Cinnabon, which I’m convinced is the just secret doorway to heaven, if the post-purgatory destination smelled like cinnamon and tasted like sugary awesome.
*Note: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band was also slated for Saturday’s line-up, but band van mishap on the road kept them from making their Denver appearance.
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.
