It was a calm yet warm Mother’s Day crowd in Phoenix’s Crescent Ballroom for Sunday’s show, and for those who didn’t forget completely, Portland Cello Project and Emily Wells double-headlined a unique and classy affair to take a venturesome mother. Someone in the audience snickers that there will be no mosh pit at this show, and although Crescent doesn’t normally host shows that compel one to mosh, but they also don’t normally set out candlelit tables on the ballroom floor either.
The first of the two acts, Emily Wells was solo on with the aid of technology, much like many shoegaze musicians, but with organic instruments and a soulful voice. Fittingly, Wells opens with “Mama’s Gonna Give You Love,” the first track from her album entitled Mama. Watching her perform is like giving someone a pile of both classical and modern instruments and a loop pedal and seeing what they come up with on the fly. Very few people would come up with something as soulful and technically astounding as she does. With her impromptu creations looping behind her, she sings with her head cocked to the right and her eyes closed, channeling Southern soul on top of a subtle hip-hop beat.
Wells is definitely a case where the term “artist” genuinely applies. She is a conscious being who has thought long and hard about her art, and looking as if she just got out of her car after a ten hour drive, which she probably did, she even has the look of an artist.
After a 20 minute break, the members of Portland Cello Project, comprised this evening of five cellists, one flutist and one horn player, took the stage and sit in a semicircle on the left side. A drummer sits behind a clear screen in the corner behind the group and a well-dressed man, one of the cellists, walks up to a microphone and tells the silent audience that the first piece is a Bach composition.
Okay, so this sounds like the beginning of a show better suited for the Phoenix Symphony half a mile away than the mostly indie rock venue. Rarely does anyone on stage at Crescent wear tuxedos and for a moment, jeans and a t-shirt seemed totally inappropriate. They finish the Bach piece to a polite applause, and immediately launch into something more upbeat and vaguely familiar. Laughs and snickers of recognition ensue from the audience, and as they finish, the emcee rises to the mic again, “That was “All of the Lights” by Kanye West. I’ll dedicate that to my mom.. She would’ve liked it!”
This is crossing typical boundaries for sure. PCP, as their fans affectionately call them, has a concept of taking songs typically not associated with the cello or classical music in general and putting their own twist on things. The majority of the music is taken from unlikely places in an attempt to modernize string music. Kanye, Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne are apparently among their favorite composers.
So can an average concert-goer who is largely unexposed to classical music enjoy this night? There’s definitely subtler things taking place; more inherent dynamic range, more soothing, quiet moments only possible from string music and lots of subtle touches that string players make to create interesting sounds with their instruments. There were a few fun moments when a largely unfamiliar song medleyed into “Sweet Georgia Brown” (Harlem Globetrotters theme) or when they really pulled from an outlandish source for a composer. “This is ‘Mouth for War’ by Pantera” states our emcee, “We once played this with Buckethead. He shreds. Skip, can you demonstrate shredding?” At that point, Skip does something very fast with his bow.
Okay, so they’re not rock stars. They’re incredibly talented, classically trained musicians with a fun idea, and while it’s definitely fun to be the first in your crowd to name that tune, some of the more typical string songs are great, too, especially Gideon Freudmann’s “Denmark.” They finish for what would be called an intermission and rise to a standing ovation.
When they return, Wells joins them on stage and they perform from her catalog and a couple covers. While both acts were great on their own, the collaborative ending was stunning, especially during “Fire Song” in which Well’s soulful vocals laid over the orchestral backdrop produced a handful of surreal and beautiful moments. After a short debate on stage, they agree to finish the evening with Adele’s “Rollin in the Deep” which was surely meant to be a crowd pleaser, and probably not something Wells would typically do, but was largely unnecessary. The crowd was already well-pleased.
