Milo Greene wear their changes well during sold-out show at the El Rey Theatre
Kevin Bronson on
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Three years ago, you’d have hardly imagined Milo Greene could host a dance party in a sold-out concert hall, but that’s what the Los Angeles quintet did Thursday night at the El Rey Theatre, marrying the indie-pop on their new album “Control” with the pastoral material on their debut.
Not that it was a delicate dance.
The star of the show ended up being drummer Curtis Marrero, toiling from the darkness at the back of the stage while the band’s front four — Andrew Heringer, Robbie Arnett, Marlana Sheetz and Graham Fink — traded off singing and harmonizing in the foreground. Marrero’s thunderous rhythms helped old songs such as “Don’t You Give Up on Me,” “1957” and “Autumn Tree” be re-imagined beyond their intimate roots.
- ||| Photos by David Benjamin
It made for a cohesive 85 minutes during which a young, date-night crowd bopped
around merrily as Milo Greene shifted between pop and rock and old and new. A fast start — Sheetz taking the lead on “White Lies” and Arnett on “Save Yourself” — gave way to several highlights: all four vocalists breathing life into “Gramercy;” Heringer starring on the tender “Parents’ House;” and the fast finish of “Lie to Me,” “Polaroid” and “What’s the Matter.”
All of which created an environment that made a cover of Phil Collins’ 30-year-old “Take Me Home” seem like a good idea, even if it never is.
Nineteen-year-old belter Zella Day opened, at her strongest recalling a very young Sheryl Crow (who, it must be pointed out, was still paying dues at that age and not playing to a theater with almost 800* people). Fronting a five-piece and abetted by backing vocal and synth tracks, she performed her recent single “1965,” songs from last fall’s EP and a strong new song “Jameson,” which she began with guitar in hand.
Electro-pop, R&B, folk — it’s hard to get an idea of whom Day might become, and a cover of “Time of the Season” that drained all the mystique out of the Zombies’ classic didn’t help. She wound up her set with “Hypnotic,” which began on a spaghetti Western-type riff and devolved into an electro banger. You’ll be hearing more of her.
* Corrected capacity of El Rey from earlier version of this post.
What’s interesting about this band is how they abandoned their folky indie vibes for 4 on the floor electro dance/pop, clearly in an effort to jump on the trend wagon but unfortunately as they say, the moment you jump on a trend you can be sure its already passed as is the case here, and sure enough the album sounds dated for 2015 and a bit contrived, but then again maybe they never had an identity to begin with and the first record was riding that folky fine line and for the same reasons.
El Rey Theatre holds less than 800 people, not 1,200.
Thank you, Dee. Major brain cramp on my part.
doesn’t sound like you’re listening Jen. their first record was filled with four on the floor. you lose your validity when you use terms out of context. I hope the next trend is death metal, cause if your claim is true milo will slay!
Yeah… steve is right… There is actually LESS four on the floor on this one. Also, as the “trends” as you call them change, people listen to that music and it affects them. I’m not sure that artists listening to art, and incorporating what they like into their own art, is bad… That’s what art is. ALSO, this record seems more of a respectful throwback with modern influences than a bandwagon ride… just saying.
Steve, i’ll put the emphasis on electro/dance pop if that helps contextualize things for you. Art? Far from it. More like calculated marketability. It’s one thing to “incorporate” likable elements and another to entirely shift genres to whatever the cool new thing is. That makes for music with no identity, pretentiousness and a lack of creative vision and originality. You want to see who can shift genres every record and do it in a forward thinking and original way? Listen to Beck’s discography. You won’t catch him putting out a house record this year.
Someone hug Jen, she needs some positive vibes in her life..