Applesaucer at the Posemodern benefit at the Makeout Room

Wednesday, July 14
by Farrin Jacobs

Posemodern's mission is to engage the disengaged, interest the uninterested, and prove that there is hope for the seemingly hopeless. In one of the creators' own written words, "We were sick of everyone our age being cynical, as if our lives weren't worth serious reflection. And we were sick of Gen-X-targeted magazines, TV and movies painting a grim picture of our future. So we wanted to create the yang to the yin of all of this postmodern
despair. "

Though there didn't seem to be much postmodern despair lurking in the Room, the musical yang and yin were certainly accounted for: The serious and subtle
girl-girl harmonizing of Atticus Scout not only seemed a little out of place amidst the Makeout Room hipsters and spinning disco ball, but also seemed like a campfire sing-along compared to the Applesaucer set that followed. In a different setting I might've enjoyed Atticus Scout a little more, but I wasn't particularly in a Lilith Fair frame of mind. After having seen Applesaucer at the Unscrubbed record release fest in May, I was expecting a good and loud show-and that's exactly what I was in the mood for.

Without a hint of subtlety, Applesaucer took the stage and went on their merry musical way, skillfully blasting through irresistibly catchy tunes off their album, as well as several new and as-yet-unrecorded tracks. Three out of the four members do the songwriting, so there's no one frontman. They are a band in the true sense--complete with shared lead singing duties and instrument swapping halfway through the set. This makes it difficult to pin a narrow definition on Applesaucer--each songwriter has his own rhythm and style somewhere along the smart-pop continuum. They do sweet and simple as adeptly as they do dark and driving.

It's clear though that not only are they damn good, but they love music and have a grand time playing, which makes watching them a joy. It's in the little smiles they give each other, the hip sways and rhythmic shoulder
shrugs of bassist Scott Ayers and guitarist Adam Zabarsky, the unchecked head shakes and bobs. By the time they get through the end of their first tune, if you're not having as much fun as they are, you really need to get out more.
After turning it up a bit for "Yes It Does," the alienation tune "Spaceman" got the girls up front up to dance, much to the amusement of keyboard player/guitarist Scot Stafford. And in their own yin and yang style, Zabarsky's sad-but-true anti-ballad "Take Care of Me" followed on the heels of Ayers' honest and sweet love tune, "Dark & Rainy Town." Through it all, drummer Josh Kilbourn, though not one of the songwriters but instrumental in the arrangements of the songs and clearly an integral part of the band, never missed a beat.

In their live performance, Applesaucer stay true to the full sound they cultivate on their self-titled CD. Yet what is energetic and easy on stage is clean and produced on the album. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a slightly
different feel.

The collection of songs on the CD proves that they dig far and wide for their inspiration and musical influences--from early Bowie and Lou Reed to The Beatles and Built to Spill. But Applesaucer put their own stamp on everything
they do. Each song is chock-full of perfect harmonies and musical delights, like the traditional Balinese melody that runs through "Angeline," the sound bite of children playing that closes "Mountain Lake Park" and introduces musically dramatic "Incredible Gravity," and the waltz-like quality of "Felt Like a Dream."

The tunes are as varied as they are well-crafted--lyrically clever and musically complex--though there are certainly a few standouts among them. Both "Dark & Rainy Town" and "Movie" will work their way into your subconscious for days: you, too, might find yourself happily walking down the street silently singing, "'Cuz I think you're really groovy / Do you wanna see a movie? / We could make out after dark in the park / We could walk, we could talk about whatever like the weather /It don't matter just as long as
I've been thinking about you" from "Movie." "Bar," with its
guitar-and-keyboard homage to "Dancing Days," could become your drinking anthem (or maybe your anti-drinking anthem). "Lazy Jane," which you can see a video of at the Toadophile website , will remind you that good musical roots were indeed forged in the late '70s and early '80s, and that in the late '90s, good bands can take those sounds and improve on them. The CD was for sale at the show, but since you weren't there, you'll have to find it at your local record store (they carry it at Streetlight Records and Amoeba) or go to the Toadophile website.

For a mere $5 cover charge, Makeout Room patrons were able to help Posemodern's creators, Jennifer Sullivan and Amy Bourne, start paying off their 'zine-induced credit card debt, catch some excellent local music, and enjoy the mellow mood of the Makeout Room. What better way to spend a Wednesday evening?

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