There is a fluidity in a Milo Greene performance, as every person of the band (and there are five of them) eventually trades his or her instrument with another member of the band at each song, and changes his or her position on stage. They were moving elegantly, as if they were executing a well-choreographed dance, and were successively becoming frontman/woman for a song or even half a song. Robbie Arnett, Graham Fink, Marlana Sheetz, Andrew Heringer and Curtis Marrero’s respective roles were like moving sand, they are not acting like separate individuals, but like a busy beehive whose each member knows exactly what to do, they were forming a unique singing-playing entity.
They recently toured with the folk-pop band The Civil Wars, had a sold-out show at the Wiltern theater, and now have a February residency at the Satellite. The fact that last Monday night Cold War Kids surprisingly showed up as the surprise opener for the show had drained a large crowd, and the small club has reached its capacity. Good for them!
With layered voices and sweet harmonies, their breezy and folkish tunes were actually more poppy than country or folk despite the use of a banjo and a tambourine on some songs or a hat on one of the singers' head. Most of their uplifting songs were beginning quietly before showing dynamic arrangements, culminating into soaring choruses.
Their multi-voice harmonies could remind something the Fleet Foxes could do if they were much happier, or evoke traces of the past like Crosby Still and Nash, or even Fleetwood Mac, but their uplifting vocals could not be separated from the live energy displayed on stage.
Their first song showcased the vocals of Marlana Sheetz, who looked like a young Meg Ryan, and from this they barely slowed down, offering to their audience a vibrant show of pounding beats, accentuated by a second drum on certain songs. Just like for this other band named Grouplove, a young exuberance and effortless passion was transpiring from their performance, even making the stage spin around with all this guitar-banjo-bass-drum switching business. They even had some long instrumental parts, all-wall of guitars and bass, a song was more dancey than the other ones, but their vibe overall was reflecting something belonging to a rustic California, indebted to wild nature and large open spaces, as if they had invented their own folklore.
They closed the set with ‘1957’, which, as some of their songs, had this hand-clapping-foot-tapping side, without going overboard, but just enough to work out the crowd already conquered.
They have just finished recording their debut album, and you can listen to their 4-songs EP, ‘The Hello Session’ on bandcamp: