Magic Giant, a band from Venice California, has already a big following, an internet buzz and even a residency at the Bootleg theater this month, so I headed up to the club this Monday to catch the LA indie band via Nashville, DC, and Korea.
But first was Jerome Holloway, a very soulful guy with a quiet guitar, whose set was everything about his warm voice, sounding a bit like a male version of Tracy Chapman, hurt, emotional and high pitched, with some interesting surprises. He was standing alone on stage, elegant looking and saying to us that ‘someday he will have a band’, but meanwhile he was making rhythms and percussion with his sole voice, African style… He was very brave to come up with such lo-key music in a bar where people usually talk without paying attention, generally you have to make some big noise to distract these people from their drinks, but he managed to do so. If the rest of the evening was very noisy and loud, the crowd did stay very quiet during his set, letting his sensible songs resonate in the place, making room for a lot of silences. ‘I talk a little bit but mostly I sing’ he said before singing a very long song called ‘I remember’, whose first lines sounded a bit like Paul Simon’s ‘America’ to me? ‘I am probably happier than I look’, he said, but did I dream it or he did cover the Wu-Tang Clan? His songs were about storytelling and the tone was passionate but very contained, stripped down to its soul-folk nature. Actually, when he has a band to flesh out all these tunes, it may actually lose this very unique and intimate feeling
Stelth Ulvang was next and he is in fact the Lumineers’ barefoot piano-player and multi-instrumentalist. He had apparently came from Colorado to play with Magic Giant as he participated very actively in their set. But first he played his own music, a series of upbeat tunes with girl-boy harmonies, foot tapping – some real violent one from his part – and some nice choruses that could easily turn into sing alongs. With a strong voice, some jazzy keys and an upright bass, the music was agitated and passionate, even dramatic, and he managed to survive this very noisy and talkative crowd, which was obviously waiting for Magic Giant. At times, his vocals were almost like spoken words while his voice had no restrain during the piano songs which were part old-fashioned cabaret, part unexpected à la Sufjan Stevens, accentuating the melancholic part. One song was a protest of Columbus day (right on!), and there was enough pathos and big declaration in all this to get captivated, especially by the final song, ‘Clocktower’, a slow bluesy cathartic and over the top number with a dramatic stage play.
Magic Giant took the stage after a short and unexpected interlude by a comedian/poet/rapper who had some great lines, but may be he repeated a bit too many times ‘you will always find evidence to support your belief’… Anyway Magic Giant was what everyone was waiting for and I had rarely seen the Bootleg theater so packed. No doubt about it, the band knows how to create a high-energy show with banjo, accordion, additional drums in the front, a charismatic singer (Austin Bis) and lots of dancing. They looked (and partially) sounded like Mumford and Sons, as the music had this uplifting-optimistic folk-revival quality but they also had some dance moves as worked out as Justin Timberlake’s. They were trying to get as much crowd participation as possible and were inundating everyone with euphoric hooks going with some happy ooo-ooo-ooos at every chorus. Magic Giant manages to craft the type of song that starts slowly with a sweet melody, then builds up with banjo and all that jazz, becomes very buoyant, very uplifting with people moving in all directions, adds accordion and more drums, then becomes a bombast circus number.
There was a maximum interaction with the enthusiastic crowd, meaning a lot of tapping, clapping and singing of course, and with their faux folk and look of hipster farmers with ripped denims and war paint on their cheeks, they made the girls do some crazy dancing, then got into a sort of square dance, looking like perfectly synchronized hillbillies… sure all this certainly stayed predictable and formulaic all along, but they made people super happy, so why should I care about the rest?
Magic Giant has a new self-produced EP with five new songs, and you can listen to ‘Glass Heart’ and ‘Let it Burn’ here… so enjoy, as I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys become super famous very soon… they did an encore song in the middle of the crowd, in the dark, and once again the melody was sweet, involved lots of dancing and an over-the-top enthusiasm… they managed to combine upbeat anthems with sing-alongs and dancing, and what else could people possibly want? I am quite sure the Bootleg had reached its capacity, the energy blew up the roof, and most of these people will be at the same place next week and the following week, and there’s truly nothing magic about this.
More pictures of the show here.
