Louis Epstein's tee-shirt bears the legend "The Best Get Better" and along with the rest of the band, Jump Into The Gospel, set about proving the point with the most fun set Thursday night at the Studio At Webster Hall, first on the bill for Cloud Nothings.
The half hour set came into focus late, with a scintillating "Photoviltaic". Before then their poppieness was based behind the rock inclinations of the guitarist (I dunno- God forbid they put it on their FB page) but with the EP highlight, the synth takes over. This mix is why they aren't really 80s retro, they are more a mix of glam and modern indie, and the singer sounds like David Bowe one minute, David Johanssen the next.
In a night that sort sonic dynamics with the two following bands, Jump Into The Gospel were more about song dynamics, the synth soaring forward and backing off and the rhythm section laying love. The lead singer is paper thin, and is lacking a little bit in on stage dynamism, but he isn't bad and he does a good job of leading them. And the guitarist is central to their live sound though I can see why he shouldn't be.
On first listen, they could tighten up a bit, and I bet they do on their upcoming February release, the second song they played off it was maybe the second best of the night.
The best of the night was the last song of the night, their terrific single "2012". The recorded version actually veers into, if not Gospel, soul vocals, on stage Jump Into The Gospel become a highly arranged and dynamic rave up. Pretty fantastic stuff.
Grade: B+