Sylvan Esso dances to different beat at Pabst
In May, People magazine reported that Sylvan Esso — the electropop duo (and married couple) who met at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee eight years ago — were working on Ariana Grande’s forthcoming album.
Fake news, unfortunately. The article was based on an interview Grande gave on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” where she said one of her album collaborators was Sivan (as in Troye Sivan), not Sylvan Esso.
But Grande really should consider working with Sylvan Esso vocalist Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn. Honestly, anyone working in pop music should closely study their catalog and give them a call.
Pop trends in recent years have called for sticky songs that are both larger than life and intimate in scope, but very few pull it off as well and as consistently as Sylvan Esso can.
That was reaffirmed Saturday at the Pabst Theater, for the first show in a sold-out, two-night residency.
“Milwaukee, are you ready to feel your feelings?” Meath said at the start of the 82-minute set. People were, and they did, thanks in no small part to her voice, an angelic instrument, but warm and rooted, and emotionally never out of reach.
“I gotta contend with the living blues,” she sang during “Die Young,” from last year’s Grammy-nominated sophomore album “What Now,” embracing time with a loved one, and sabotaging her plans for a spectacular early demise.
Milwaukee musician Chris Rosenau, one of Sanborn’s closest friends, gently strummed an acoustic guitar over Sanborn’s hushed beats, as Meath quietly sang “Slack Jaw,” facing her uncertainties and insecurities, despite having “everything I need.”
And “Hey Mami,” the first song from the first Sylvan Esso album in 2014, received an especially rapturous response Saturday. Sure, the song’s older, the band’s more popular, so that could be the reason.
But in the MeToo and Time’sUp era, the song’s criticism of catcalling — “Sooner or later the dudes at bodegas will hold their lips and own their (expletive)” — really struck a chord.
Sylvan Esso moved people Saturday, but it also made them move. Meath herself helped break the ice, dressed like a heroic wrestler from Netflix’s “GLOW,” sliding and shimmying even when Sanborn’s beats faded into silence for “Kick Jump Twist.”
Sanborn himself moved like a marionette puppet controlled by a 5year-old on Pixy Stix, his back arched and elbows jutting out as he twisted knobs and spasmed across the stage during the burning climax of “The Glow.”
By the time “Just Dancing” showed up at the halfway point, people were dancing in the aisles, and Sanborn’s one-of-a-kind production — distinctly textured, but packed with big hooks — kept the grooving going until the final note. Twinkling lights flickered in sync with the sound of chimes during “Coffee,” and Sanborn intentionally soured the track’s heartbeat cadence.
It was a brief and bold gesture that summarized Sylvan Esso’s incredible appeal: They make sweeping electronic music that sounds, and feels, human.
Before moving to North Carolina where Sylvan Esso is based, Sanborn was a part of Milwaukee’s music scene for 11 years, performing in the band Decibully and with instrumental experimental rock group Collections of Colonies of Bees.
The latter is Sylvan Esso’s opener for some Midwest dates this month. But the CoCoBees that released its latest album “Hawaii” last week is dramatically different — call it avant-garde arena rock — and Saturday, it continued to evolve.
Marielle Allschwang brought a new dynamic (and vocals) a year ago, but she exhibited greater command Saturday, with subtle yet striking interpretative dances marked by serene gestures and empowered clenched fists.
Joining her behind the mic was a special guest, Milwaukee singer and rapper Klassik, who spiked the 40minute set with nimble verses, falsetto squeals and his own illuminating energy.
Confident and sturdy as CoCoBees has become, it thrillingly remains a work in progress.