So being that their album has been in heavy rotation with me for the past 2 months, I ventured out to the Quadron show last night in Park Slope, BKLYN. For some Danes, Coco & company definitely exhibited some funky chops. She was on point, vocally. They ran through essentially the lion's share of their 12-track debut. I'm glad they performed my favorites, like "Day," "Slippin'," "Simili Life," and of course "Average Fruit." I'm glad they decided to forego the sobbing featured on the album version of "Far Cry" when they performed it live. My only beefs were that:
A. Robin was not on stage. I mean, to me that's part of the intrigue and allure of Quadron: a Scandinavian duo comprised solely of a soulful white chick singing leads and a multi instrumentalist cat handling production. They should have at least been on stage together. Coco up there with a hodge podge of musicians where one guy looked like a karate master, the other dude looked like a Doogie Howser doppelganger made for a motley crew. But I don't think many folks in the crowd really noticed and/or gave a sh*t. But I, on the on the other hand, notice everything.
B. Coco seems to be having difficulty asserting some semblance of a stage presence. Sorry to be the Debbie Downer, but it's true. Me and my homegirl were thinking it may have been nerves, being that this is the group's first time playing in the US, because she gave off a strange nervous energy. But they had already performed 12 of the 16 dates on their US tour by the time they got to NYC, so any butterflies and stage fright should have been shaken off by then. But at any rate, she could use a good stylist and hurr-dresser. And the slo-mo tango choreography she was doing...wasn't working.
But don't let that deter you from coping the album.
It's a really strong first outing for the pair, chocked full of ambient sounds and funky undercurrents. If you enjoyed Robin's 2006 Ubiquity Records collaboration album with singer/ instrumentalist Philip Owusu, Living With Owusu & Hannibal, you'll definitely get a kick out of this one. Thank the mighty, mighty L.A. indie Plug Research for having the gumption to release the Quadron record in the States. By the way, Robin told me that he and Philip have been working on more music together for a second album. Stay tuned.
Check the videos for:
Pressure by Quadron from Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen on Vimeo.
Buster Keaton from Plug Research on Vimeo.
Catch their last few dates in the States at a venue near you:
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