Avey Tare celebrated his new EP with a mesmerizing Public Records show (review)
Watching Avey Tare is like peering into a dream.
New-ish Brooklyn venue Public Records provided an ideally intimate setting for fans to gather around Avey’s proverbial campfire, only the “fire” component was a psychedelic trek through Avey’s mind. The sincerity and genuine quality of his performance along with his signature facial expressions led this reviewer along with the rest of the crowd to be entirely absorbed into the performance from start to finish. It was like watching a scientist reveal a breakthrough in physics to a crowd of eager students. There was a perceptible give and take between the audience and Avey, who exposes the depths of his soul as he performs.
The people that go to see Avey Tare are people that love Avey Tare. Right after the show, a buddy and I struck up a conversation with a guy smoking a cigarette out front. He’d been going to Animal Collective shows since their 2009 mega breakthrough, and if he’s anything like I imagine most people there to be, he’d been listening for longer than that. Animal Collective die-hards remain with the band, even when they’re not at the forefront of the indie zeitgeist. They’re in it for the long haul, and Avey’s set on Friday night was a reminder to all of us in the audience why we give this band undying love. My personal favorite song of the night was “Disc One,” a new song on Avey’s Conference of Birds / Birds in Disguise, which had come out one day earlier (the same day Avey began his two-night stand at Public Records). This song, complete with background visuals of the face of a clown spinning and jumping around, captured an essence of Avey’s music I have trouble describing. It’s something like childlike innocence, coupled with the bad dream of adult life. Something like running through the woods with your best friend pretending to be chased by some kind of monster, only Avey embodies both the children and the monster at the same time. To use the word “whimsical” would be an understatement.
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