Sunday, July 30, 2006

Sufjan Stevens (and poor Nikolai Dunger)

Sufjan Stevens At the Black Cat

Washington Post, Nov. 30, 2004

On the night before Thanksgiving, Sufjan Stevens wrapped himself quite literally in the flag. Wearing stars-and-stripes bandanas and other red-white-and-blue clothing, the members of his band, who called themselves the Michigan Militia, took to the Black Cat's stage to sing a jaunty song about "our 50 states."

Post-election reunification or postmodern hipper-than-thou-ness? The best way to enjoy Stevens was to step off to the side of such quandaries and revel in the exquisite tension of his sonic contradictions.

Stevens, who is said to be writing an album about every state of the union (he's already completed the mammoth Greetings From Michigan, the Great Lakes State), asked the crowd to imagine itself on a tour bus, then commenced an exhilarating trip through his own oeuvre. Blending unabashedly rock drums and melancholy, sometimes jazzy trumpet with softly chanting vocals, engagingly retro Wurlitzer keys and the varied voices of banjo and acoustic and electric guitars, Stevens created an arresting landscape. A high point was "Sister"; Stevens, with band mate Shara Worden of the opening act Awry, coached the audience in singing the hook melody from the album track on Seven Swans. Clearly the enraptured crowd knew it already. As the massed voices shimmered in the smoke-choked air, Stevens's Gibson soared above it all with the holy fire of pure electric guitar.

The people of the Black Cat were joined as one during the set -- unlike that of Swedish singer Nicolai Dunger, who performed between Awry and Stevens. Dunger, who combines the chipper good looks of '70s icon John Davidson with the voice of Van Morrison -- as impersonated by Davidson -- tried to lead a similar singalong but failed miserably. "You're the worst crowd I've ever had!" he said, rather amiably, to which a voice rang out: "You're the worst opening act we've ever had!" Then several onlookers joined in a fervid chorus: "Bo-ring. Bo-ring."

-- Pamela Murray Winters

Biggest applause Dunger got that night was after he said, "This is my last number..."

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