Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Zee Avi is a tiny woman. She is, in fact, one of the smallest adults I’ve ever seen. But when she mounted the stage with her ukulele, all four-foot-nothing of her, and leaned into that microphone, a voice poured out that was truly larger than life.

Opener Matt Jennings played a grungy set on guitar backed by a bassist and drummer. For being pretty basic guitar rock, his music has a lot of warm texture to it. “Sorry to rock your faces off,” he offered in genuine recognition of how different his style is from Avi’s. The spotlight tonight was all on her, and after a short set his band ceded the stage.

Avi’s set drew heavily from her latest LP, Ghostbird, including chill opener “Milestone Moon” and must-listen highlights “31 Days”, “Swell Window”, and “Stay In The Clouds”. As soon as she opened her mouth, everyone could tell this was a different kind of show. The voice that floods from her throat is so much more in person—warmer, deeper, bigger, downright startling when it issues from such a petite person. Between songs, Avi looked her 23 years, a tad shy to talk until she warmed up the crowd. The minute she sang, though, belting forth her mix of jazzy, island-flavored tunes, an otherworldly confidence showed.

Favorites like “Just You And Me” and “Bitter Heart”, both off her self-titled debut, drew a modest sing-along; the crowd was hesitant to make any noise when there was a chance that Avi might sing. Not that they could possibly have drowned her out. The deep, honeyed tones that issued from her resounded through the room and vibrated the walls with their persistent gentle warmth.

The oft-requested stunner “Concrete Wall” (begged for a la “Freebird”) took on a remarkable depth live. The guitar player filled in the distinctive vocal backing while Avi sang the verses and pounded startlingly on a kick drum, giving a forceful punctuation to the sharper lines (“You make me want to show this shoe [hit] right through that concrete wall [hit hit]” ). Between drumbeats, she danced with the mallet held above her head, lending a very realistic feeling of conflict to the song—when will her anger flare, the drum sound?

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

And yet she was so pleased to be there. When she closed her encore with the customary “Thank you, Chicago!”, the crowd actually thanked her back. Avi smiled, looked down, appearing overwhelmed by the affection so tangible in the small room. Genuine joy in beautiful music: It’s enough to remind us why we listen in the first place.

Setlist:
Milestone Moon
31 Days
Swell Window
Just You And Me
Madness
The Book of Morris Johnson
Siboh Kitak Nangis
Bitter Heart
Concrete Wall
Kantoi
Encore:
Honey Bee
Stay In The Clouds
Roll Your Head In The Sun

One part island breeze and one part classic jazz, Ghostbird sounds like a record you would find in your grandmother’s attic, the work of some jazz age ingénue. But, no, you’re listening to Avi, a twentysomething native of Malaysia in possession of an old-soul voice. It would be easy to dismiss this music as easy listening, one more Jack Johnson-style veg-out disc, but the sheer beauty of her floaty alto voice and shimmering arrangements help it stand out and stand up to repeat listens.

Opener “Swell Window” captures attention from the start, with its chime-like lyrical repetition. “31 Days” pops up a few tracks later, a meditation on growing up: “At the ripe age of 17/I moved into that big, bad city,” she croons. Later she learns “I’m half crazy/you’re too sane.” This has been done before, of course, but the earnestness in Avi’s delivery sells it.

“Siboh Kitak Nangis” best exemplifies Avi’s smoky jazz skills. All the while, its foreign lyrics hypnotize in the way that Sigur Rós’s Icelandic wanderings do. A few tracks are, yes, cute (particularly “The Book of Morris Johnson”), but “Concrete Wall” pays back your patience in spades, Avi giving one side of a lovers’ quarrel with a darkness that has eluded her before. Its smoldering passive aggression has a mature tone that suits her.

Jaw-dropping closer “Stay in the Clouds” features strong, clear strings and a throaty rasp of a jazz-throwback vocal. Singing softer in her higher register, Avi intones, “Can I please stay in the clouds forever/‘cause I really like it here,” an almost cruel irony when the song must, inevitably, end. Fortunately, you can hit repeat, and you will.

Essential Tracks: “31 Days”, “Concrete Wall”, and “Stay in the Clouds”

Opener Zee Avi took the stage with nothing more than a guitar, a ukulele, a stoic bass player, and a mild-mannered, tame drummer. Her quirky songs like “Poppy” and “Honey Bee” were pleasant, sure, but became a bit numbing after about 20 minutes. She played well with her polite band of minstrels, coursing through peppy stories of romantic indecision with a mid range soprano that cracked in just the right places. However, still movements of the band were a little boring among the 900 seat venue. She whipped out the ukulele for a fun cover song or two, but it was too little too late in the set for anyone to actually start dancing. I realize it’s not supposed to be Girl Talk, but a little more musical and physical diversity would have held my attention longer.

So, I was naturally nervous when the stage was set for Mr. Yorn and his own ensemble. While Yorn has definitely displayed his edgier side (particularly with the more rock and roll oriented Day I Forgot), I knew he was sticking to playing nearly half of his latest (and most mellow) album, the twinkling yet sleepy Back & Fourth.

The lights dimmed and he took the stage with, much to my delight, a full band, including two guitarists in addition to his own playing. They immediately launched into the easily recognizable opening thump of “Strange Condition”. From the get go, it was clear drowsiness would not be an issue. Although the songs were not radically rearranged from the studio versions, simply having a dynamic live drummer made an explosive difference. Yorn gave him, and the rest of the band, plenty of room for improvisation, letting them exercise their heavier chops throughout the songs, and extending each tune’s climax into an ethereal wall of sound that transformed even the most melancholy tunes (“On Your Side”, “Lose You”) into armed, angst ridden anthems.

Ironically, the songs that benefited the most from the more muscular treatment were the ones from Back And Fourth. “Shotgun” and “Last Summer” became all out white knuckle howlers as the band and the most sincere tambourine player in the world stomped and thrashed across the stage. The rolling hill beauty of “Country” was even more recognized with a hollow drum box instead of traditional percussion and “Don’t Wanna Cry” saw the musicians delicately tapping their instruments before going full force on the song’s finale, providing it with an emotional crescendo that’s almost absent from the studio version.

Ever the humble showman, Yorn knew when to pull back. Going completely solo acoustic for the fan gem “A Girl Like You”, Yorn showed the crowd he could truly croon with his straightforward granite pipes. He even gave everyone a taste of Jersey (his homeland) with a stripped down tease of Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart”, which launched into “Don’t Wanna Cry”. Other pleasant surprises included the earnest cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”, the eerie live debut of “Sans Fear”, and “Can’t Hear Anyone”, a Pretenders-esque B-side that almost was, and should have been, the opener to Nightcrawler.

The rest of the set was filled with sped up, thundering fan favorites like “Life On A Chain”, “Murray”, and “For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)”. The songs that gave Yorn his signature Brit pop meets new wave murk sound almost ten years ago remain just as resonant and effective today.

The only time the band’s ferocious energy played against them was with Yorn’s rhythm guitarist. The dude was frizzy-haired, and executed windmills, tosses, and other axe acrobatics more than he actually played, with the exception of “Country” when he donned a mandolin that didn’t sound like it was even plugged in. His punk rock shtick seemed a little far reaching and was sometimes a distraction from the show.

Overall, it was a true joy to see a singer-songwriter go against the grain and play up all of his many strengths, both soft and loud. The bombastic energy of Yorn’s live set was more than enough to charge up any music fan, whether they’re hanging in the coffee house or bouncing around their parent’s garage.

Setlist:
Strange Condition
Shotgun
Last Summer
Just Another
Crystal Village
Murray
Girl Like You
Country
On Your Side
For Us
Social Development Dance
Can’t Hear Anyone
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen tease)
Don’t Wanna Cry
Sans Fear
Bizarre Love Triangle” (New Order cover)
Life On A Chain
Encore:
Closet
Lose You
For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)