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Concert Sat Feb 04 2012
Photos/Review: Smith Westerns @ Cabaret Metro 2/3/12
Though Chicago's own Smith Westerns barely played for an hour on a stage adorned with Happy Faces, they left an immediate impression on the audience and did what great bands can truly do, which is leave their fans wanting more instead of getting tired of the songs. In fact, as the set progressed to the end, the night culminated in complete audience wild abandon and the band did well to feed on this adoration and become even stronger on stage, lead singer Cullen Omori especially. The band perhaps made a breakthrough when they achieved an opener touring spot for Arctic Monkeys but, let's face it, Arctic Monkeys aren't half the band these Chicago lads are.
If you've been paying attention for awhile, you've probably seen this band grow from being a little sloppy and imperfect into what seems like flawless rock stars. Though the actual lighting on the stage was mostly backlighting vs. front lighting, focusing on silhouetted movements vs. facial expressions, The Omori brothers have an incredible stage presence between Cameron constantly thrashing his head around and Cullen moving his hips about like a postmodern reincarnation of Elvis, only with about 100x more sex appeal. Their wondrous glammy songs seem mainly about being young and in love. At this point in their career, their lyrics aren't completely original sounding and the music reminds one of the best eras of music, when psychedelic, pop, and glam all danced languidly together, sharing eachother's worth. It's the sum of the parts in this case: lyrics and music accompaniment that seem to make the songs click with the listener.
Their albums are also getting more interesting and stronger as a whole. Their self titled release in 2009 showed promise but it was their 2011 release Dye it Blonde that truly showed touches of brilliance. The only real negative of the album is that is just isn't long enough and resembles more an EP in its length. Still, it's better to have the quality over quantity and Dye it Blonde surely delivers in that department, with perhaps the absolute pinnacle achievement being "Smile," which they also pulled off perfectly live.
In fact, the songs from this latest release came off especially well, though it seems more natural that "End of the Night" be placed last instead of second (sort of like how it would be odd for Leonard Cohen to begin a night with "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye") Besides that, it's key to add that there were a few new songs that really felt like they belonged most with the songs on their most recent album vs. their debut. Though the young fans will yearn for Cullen to touch their extended fingers and let them caress his guitar, it will be nice to continue to hear the band grow musically and lyrically. But, either way, with their lush sounds and their engaging stage presence, "I wanna tell you, you're hard to resist."
