Other Lives – Live at the Media Club, Vancouver

11 February 2009, Carmen @ 5:39 pm Other Lives Live at the Media Club, Vancouver

It had been a long time since I’d been at the Media Club in Vancouver. So long, in fact, that it was almost unrecognizable. They’ve renovated the space to make it more conducive to live music, including the loss of tables and booths, and the addition of mirrors. The result is a space that feels remarkably roomier.

Other Lives, of Springwater, Oklahoma, who has existed in one form or another since 2004, took the stage just after 9pm on Saturday, February 7 to a full house. The crowd, a mass of glistening young bodies and borderline frat boys, was instantly muted by Jesse Tabish’s captivating voice.

As talented as they were good looking, it was no big thing for the quintet to win this crowd over. Josh Onstott (bass, melotron, backing vocals), Colby Owens (drums), Jonathon Mooney (piano, violin, organ, guitar) and Jenny Hsu (cello, backing vocals) worked alongside Tabish to cast a spell over the room. During their much-too-short set, playing a grown-up musical chairs as they traded instrument duties, Other Lives managed to energize and inspire almost effortlessly.

“We just ate so much Indian food – we’re feeling it up here as much as you guys,” Tabish remarked a few songs in.

There were a number of sound issues at the start, and at times Hsu’s cello was drowned out by the multi-layered sounds on stage. Luckily her vocals, in duet with Tabish’s, weren’t.

Then came the alcohol-induced cry of a drunken frat boy: “You guys are Hollywood!”

Maybe if he meant that their songs were polished to a blinding sheen? Or that they’re American? Maybe he was simply disappointed with their pronunciation of beer cozy (“coozie”).

It’s hard not to compare Other Lives’ brand of instrumentalist intellirock to Radiohead (especially considering their EP, released in October 2008, was engineered by Darrell Thorp, who has worked with Radiohead, Outkast and Beck) – not to mention that Tabish’s gyrations and crazy legs at the piano are borrowed straight from Thom Yorke’s repertoire. And if comparisons are the news of the day, the timbre of Tabish’s voice was very similar to that of Sondre Lerche (listen closely to “Precious Air”). Tabish, sitting down at the organ, slipping off his right shoe to use the pedal, Pied-pipered us into a musical frenzy. Under his cute little cardigan and skinny jeans came a fury, a dragon. His voice was at once paralyzing and uplifting, buoyed by Onstott’s brawny basslines and Owens’ crisp snare. This was not music for wimpy, indie kids.

Other Lives works together – no one player is attempting to steal thunder, just as there is no “I” in team. Their crescendos were packing heat – big payoffs that won an equally vibrant reaction from the crowd.

“Everyone’s the same / when you think it’s over”, Tabish howled.

He was right. There was a tangible and lingering disappointment as they packed up their gear and Delta Spirit took the stage.

Other Lives are currently touring North America and will release their debut full-length, self-titled album on April 7, 2009 (available digitally as soon as March 17).

AWmusic