live: the morning benders

30Apr10

There’s a pretty good chance that by now you’ve heard the Morning Benders’ breakout LP Big Echo (and if you haven’t, I suggest you stop reading this and get it now). Produced by Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Taylor, the second effort from this Berkeley group is more developed than 2008′s Talking Through Tin Cans, and they’ve sorta been tearing up New York in the past week. After opening with “Stiches” at Mercury Lounge on Wednesday night, frontman Chris Chu heaved, “Sorry, I’m out of breath.” Not a surprise, considering this was their last of three sold-out headlining shows in the city. Chu seemed to be in a bit of disbelief that people were still showing up to see them.

The quartet mostly stuck to tracks from the new record, but also threw in a new song and a calmed-down rendition (the “Big Echo version,” as Chu called it) of “Damnit Anna” from Tin Cans. Especially great were “Promises,” with a hearty bass foundation and the anthemic line “I can’t help thinking we grew up too fast,” and the jangly “Cold War (Nice Clean Fight),” with dissonant back-up vocals and an a cappella vocal break at the end. These dudes might be sort of new to the scene, but let’s hope they stick around for a while.

Twin Sister (I’ve got to politely disagree with all the other eMusic folks: I wasn’t that into them):