Volcano Choir Concert Report

Volcano Choir at The Phoenix September 8

Volcano Choir, the side project of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, played in support of their excellent new album, Repave. Opening for them were Sylvan Esso, a band with a complicated connection to Justin Vernon. While both members of this duo are in folk bands, this project is definitely of the category of electronic dance music. Sylvan Esso presently only have one single out, "Hey Mami/Play it Right." They used a combination of layered vocals and bass-oriented electronics to create upbeat groove music. The crowd, who seemed to be mainly polite folk fans, were initially reticent but warmed up to the heavy grooves and singer Amelia Meath's (of Mountain Men) friendly banter and awkwardly enthusiastic dancing. Overall, a promising duo who got a better than average reception for an unknown opening act.

Volcano Choir immediately counteracted the friendly demeanor of Sylvan Esso by playing in almost total darkness for the entirety of the set. Fortunately, a nice backdrop of what may have been a winter forest and some very effective lighting provided some visual stimulation. The crowd seemed to mainly be Bon Iver fans looking to see Vernon in a smaller venue, so when his shadowy figure emerged onto the stage, the crowd freaked out. At six members, they were a fairly large group who created a varied array of sounds

The group mainly played songs from Repave. Bolstered by Vernon's powerful, unique voice as well as the tight but experimental band, the songs sounded even better than on record. "Byegone" was especially dramatic in this setting. They also played a few unreleased songs, which saw the group pursuing a more rock-oriented direction. One song especially was very reminiscent of the first Bloc Party album. Vernon's voice is amazingly versatile, easily moving between ballads, rock songs and meandering quasi-raps. They ended the first set with a rocked-out version of the Bon Iver song "Woods", renamed "Still" for Volcano Choir, which was very well received by the crowd. Generally, they offered a surprisingly exciting show, though some of the more experimental tracks meandered and it would have been nice to see the band.