Capsule
Songs
From the Living Room
(Self-released)
Valentine's
day came and went already? Really? Who noticed? And here I'm still having
dreams about Christmas. A few nights ago I had a dream about that weird
glitch in television history that had David Bowie singing The Little Drummer
Boy with some old guy. Only, in my dream, the famous piano duet featured
that guy from Simply Red instead of Bing Crosby. Hmmm...what can it mean?
Dreaming about David Bowie is nothing new for me, but I only have two
David Bowie dreams: the one where he proposes marriage with a pink, puffy
ring and the one where Blue Jean gets named the best pop song of all time
(shut up, I can dream, can't I?). So I must be dreaming about Capsule
again. It has to be Capsule. I just saw them at the Paradise last week,
plus: there are three guys in Capsule and three elements in the Christmas
dream.
Robert Beyers, who was the only performer at the January David Bowie birthday
celebration and Glam Fest at Slim's to bring David Bowie's ghost with
him, is the Bowie part of the dream. Andy Nelson, with his high voice
and totally awesome Irish-boy red curls, is the Mik Hucknell part. Which
leaves drummer Kevin Beyers as the song. But I could be wrong. Dream analysis
isn't an exact science. I mean Kevin isn't exactly a little drummer boy--but
"blonde, medium-sized rock drummer man" doesn't make for a good song title.
Well, okay. It's not fair to say that Capsule is the Bowie reincarnate,
but the dramatic highs, and resonate lows of Robert's voice harken back
to a time when rock was just a little more glam, and white duke's were
just a little more thin. Putting that together with the groups space-age
style of song-writing (like their ultra-mega pop anthem "Jetglas Jupiter
5"), and the fact that anyone who thinks "John, I'm Only Dancing" is a
cool song is just going to love Capsule's latest self-release "Songs From
the Living Room", it's hard to leave Bowie's name out of a Capsule review.
And now that I think about it, the Mik Hucknell/ Andy Nelson comparison
is just a little too easy, but I like easy, so I'm sticking with it.
So, Bowie and red-haired soul singer references aside, "Songs From the
Living Room" is punk rock/pop aesthetic produced with almost anal perfectionism.
But, just because they're a little anal doesn't mean that Capsule can't
experiment. They can, as they prove with the arty "Beware the Tiki " that
would certainly come off as cliche-avant-garde throw-away track if it
weren't so damn interesting. Or that they don't let a few lo-fi moments
spark through as a teaser to the energy of a Capsule show. They do, especially
on the spooky, hard-rocking "Born Crusher."
At a recent Paradise show they inspired a drunk guy (who didn't look like
a Bowie fan at all, so that shows you how far comparisons get you) to
lean over the balcony and scream, "you guys are fucking great!" Then they
hemmed and hawed about whether to do one of the songs from "Songs From
the Living Room" or an old one. The drunk guy voted for "a new one!" They
weren't sure if the audience would like it, but they went ahead and played
the soaring soulful pop tune, "I am Freaking Out," featuring some really
cool Robert and Andy harmonies. The audience loved it.
Okay so if you want to see Capsule, with their blonde drummer, red-head
bassist, and Robert with his Fudge brand Blue Velvet/Blue Hawaii hair
go to Slim's (11th and Folsom) Wednesday, March 3 at 8:00 PM, Capsule
plus Red Planet / Glitter Mini 9 / Jolly, $5.00 (USD).
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