Being the second night that Ivan & Alyosha—“see marquee for proper spelling,” says lead singer Tim Wilson–were opening for Aimee Mann, they were ready to explain the absence of their drummer as “he’s in LA, but we have a record with drums on it, if you’re into that sort of thing,” and admit that “these shows are kinda nerve wracking… but fun right?”
Candor and charm are at the forefront of I&A’s minimal stage chatter. Without delay, the “incomplete” band breaks into “I Was Born to Love Her,” Tim takes a few sips of New Castle, “tonight’s beer,” and rolls comfortably into the title track of their latest EP Fathers Be Kind.
I must admit, having seen them with “full band” at The Living Room in New York and sans drummer at The Birchmere (percussion = two tambourines), I like it all. The more acoustic set played Wednesday night showcased their amazing clapping (sorry, Ryan Carbary) and a cappella ability during the set’s ending song “Glorify,” which can be described as even a tad bit spiritual.
Ivan & Alyosha were kind enough to talk to me briefly at the end of the show, and a few items of interest arose:
- They are moving to Los Angeles, California
- Tim Wilson ordered the ribs, both nights
- Ryan Carbary lacks faith in their collective rhythmic clapping (but I do not, see above)
- And a personal correction: the relative in my previous review of Ivan & Alyosha at The Living Room was not his aunt, but was his cousin
Photo: Jason Tang
As the sweet harmonies and perfectly in-sync clapping fade away, on steps Aimee Mann, saying she “feels like an animal coming up the stage ramp at the Birchmere.” “Who came to the show last night?” Aimee asks, and she interrupts a few spirited “Woohoos!” with “Okay! So not many, so I can tell you, tonight’s show is going to be so much better!” As the laughs die down, she begins “High on Sunday 51.”
Dressed in tight blue jeans and a black cropped leather jacket, she looks the songwriter-singer type. Although her voice teeters between a smoky laugh and a nasal cry, she stabilizes her sound somewhere in between in “Save Me,” a clever folk tune that receives instant crowd recognition. Aimee should congratulate herself on remembering the lyrics to Save Me flawlessly on Wednesday, as she confessed that she was not as lucky Tuesday. She segues playfully from “Freeway” to “Medicine Wheel” (written by her sister Gretchen), quipping that “I know it sounds a lot like ‘Let It Be’ at first, but it changes you’ll see…”
Although she hasn’t put a record out in a while, she continues to play a solid and entertaining live show, mocking and beating herself up for not making The Forgotten Arm into a musical before David Russell’s The Fighter was released last year. The story she described sounded similar to The Fighter’s plot, but the tunes she played from her stillborn possible musical were, in typical Aimee Mann form, well-written and vividly descriptive. Regardless of the success of The Fighter, I think Aimee would be smart to write a screenplay and set it to music. You have to love someone who has been in the business for as long as she has and still uses the old “I’m lazy, and I am working on a project” excuse as to why she hasn’t put out an album in three years.
