BATHS & Young Fathers- Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ 4/11/14 (Show Review)

Will Wiesenfeld, better known as BATHS, took the stage at Crescent wearing a plain T-shirt and gold jogging shorts, looking more bed-head and casual than headlining a packed show.  With only one other musician accompanying him mostly on guitar, he had an extremely sparse set with mostly keyboards. He had a kinetic energy, constantly standing up and straining in his falsetto vocal range instead of sitting for most of his set. He introduced the set with “Miasma Sky” from his widely well-received album, Obsidian, creating a jarring juxtaposition between his plaintive lyrics such as “Are you here to help me hurt myself,” and his blipping sunny electronics.

Tinkering emotive melodies with crisp break beats and synths were hard not to compare to Postal Service, also with a whispery high range falsetto. Shuttering staccato and high energy segued into a tightly arranged “Worsening” with a tonal, textured change backing dark lyrics such as “Where is God when you hate him most?”

“Lovely Bloodflow” welcomed a hand-clapping, music-box melody with static stop-and-starts, reminiscent of Bjork he so fondly references in many interviews as a major influence, but was soon back to gothic imagery in “Ocean Death” with “bury your body in my graveyard” with a heart-rattling bass grooving with what could be wind-tunnel feedback. Sounding often of a mash-up of Trent Reznor lyrics with mid-90s rave culture blipping and beeping, Bjork’s “Army of Me” tank of a track definitely comes to mind with it’s unrelenting beat assault against screamed and crooned lyrics “Come kill me/ I seem so brittle/ Come kill me/ I seem so little” on “Earth Death”.

While the set was energetic, it was a hard transition from the casual charm of the band joking about their sweaty shirt and how their shorts are sweaty due to sweaty balls, with Wiesenfeld even acknowledging “Now I have to do an emotional intro after talking about my sweaty balls” as he launched into “Phaedra” emoting into imagery of mortality, apathy and killing himself.

The sound was so good due to impeccable musicianship, that the vocal predictability of screaming, falsetto and cute delivery coupled with the frankly repetitive lyrics of self-harm and death began to ring tiresome. However, the lack of any visual direction made Wiesenfeld and his partner the main entertainers to set a mood of, well, moodiness. Dark lyrics and bright sound seemed to be enough for the packed crowd nodding along to his innovative sound manipulation, but Baths’ stage performance lacked cohesion.

Closing out with “You’re My Excuse to Travel” and “No Eyes,” the emotional rawness of his efforts made this music to be enjoyed by couples.

Young Fathers, promoting their new release Death opened for Baths, both of which are employeed on the Anticon label, and they killed it. The Scottish “lo-fi R&B” trio came out with an amazing up-right drummer as accompaniment. While they begrudgingly acknowledge Americans may use “Massive Attack” as a reference point for their three-men assault on hip-hop delivery, soulful hooks and boy band harmonizing, they state they are not like any other sound out there- and they’re right.

Grabbing the baton of early 90s synthia with live drumming, reggae ton, dancehall and trip-hop, their controlled stage presence soon had the crowd smiling and nodding, even dancing, a pretty rare instance in an unknown opening band for such a rabid fan base as Baths.

Their long history playing together manifested in their assured movement; unabashedly dancing and sensually undulating, all while showcasing a new way of performing. Perhaps with a performance so entertaining and varied, it was a tough act to follow with minimal movement and repetitive vocal arrangements. After all, a song such as “Get Up” encouraging the crowd to “have a party,” then to be followed by Baths’ singing about being killed and hurting himself was a buzz kill, and understandably so.

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One Response

  1. Great article, I feel like I was there!

    Nobody likes to hear anybody talk about their “sweaty balls”.

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