Reticence, The Icy Shores and Amber Estate at 7th Street Entry on 5/12/06

By: Pat O'Brien

Reticence at the Turf Club, Feb. 3, 2006 - Photo by David de Young

There are a lot of bands that seem to slip through the cracks in Twin Cities. A lot of times it’s immediately apparent why, but on Friday night I was impressed with the inventiveness on stage and a little deflated by the fact that as the first band played there were 11 people in the Entry – including the bartender. That left room for about 350 people, all of whom missed out.

Sometimes bands get a little too quirky for their own good, and as The Amber Estate started I saw their instrumentation and was ready to put them in the “too quirky” category. However, I gave it time and was taken in by their Get Up Kids-meets-Christopher Cross-with-a-keyboard sound. The guitarist, Matthew Miller, is also their bassist, which was made possible by the custom-built guitar/bass hybrid (affectionately named “Mutt” by the band) that was strung with two bass strings and four guitar strings but seemed necessary rather than gimmicky (there are only three of them and with keyboards and drums to man, what other answer is there, really?). They played like there were 11,000 people there rather than 11 in the room, and they held everyone’s attention, bartender included, which is somewhat of a rarity.

If The Replacements had formed 20 years later than they did, they may have sounded a little (or a lot) like The Icy Shores. They sound like The Promise Ring without the self-indulgence and The ‘Mats without the sloppy drunkenness, all of which is to say they were very tight and not too showy--a definite asset. They were comfortable and loose on stage, trading in-jokes and goofy one-liners between songs. The music is pure, unadulterated, hooky power pop with the amps turned all the way up. A couple of times, when they got the bass guitar and the bass drums going my vision blurred a little--these guys seemed like they were exorcising some serious demons on stage. And after listening to the lyrics, which were mostly about broken relationships but wrapped in a thick blanket of sarcasm and bitterness, that might be true. When they hit the stage that had a look of quiet confidence, like they knew they were going to be on and could hardly wait to get going. Sometimes bands that have that look don’t follow through, which is always a disappointment, but The Icy Shores did it. They cooked on stage for 45 minutes and then wordlessly packed up and left. They arrived to do a job, did it well, and then went on their way.

The most polite man in the city of Minneapolis fronts Reticence – but I’ll get back to that. The word that most accurately describes their sound is “crunchy,” but that doesn’t say much. They have taken Sunny Day Real Estate, stripped away that band’s penchant for baroque weirdness and patched David Bazan’s (aka Pedro The Lion) ear for a catchy melody in its place. There was also a cinematic quality to the music that didn’t hit right away; it seeped in slowly and became apparent about halfway through the set. They were genuinely excited to be there, and you could almost see them visibly buzzing as they played. They debuted some new material and played songs from last year’s ReMedial. The highlight of the album is their ode to video games “Up, Up, Down, Down,” the title and lyrics of which reference Nintendo, The Legend Of Zelda, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out! but comes off wistful and sincere rather than snarky and inane. It made me want to be 12 years old again for a moment (anyone who can sing the lyrics “Don Flamenco and King Hippo, they don’t stand a chance” and mean it are OK in my book). They also did a spot-on cover of Pedro The Lion’s “Bad Diary Days” that was absolutely searing.

After they finished I was introduced to the lead singer, Jesse Norell, who promptly handed me a CD and commended this site more than once. I protested (the CD not the kudos) but he would hear none of it; he is officially the nicest person I have ever met.

Reticence Setlist:

1. Autumn Eve (new)
2. Through & Through (new) 
3. Up, Up, Down, Down
4. Giant
5. The Beginning Of The End (new)
6. You Better Run
7. Competition Drives
8. Fallen In The Well (new)
9. Courtesy Will Get You Nowhere
10. Bad Diary Days (Pedro The Lion cover)
11. Set Straight
12. Your Last Nail (new)

Location Info: 7th Street Entry
Artist Info: Amber Estate, Reticence, The Icy Shores

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