All photos by Ross Bernhardt
“Tip your bartenders. Punch a nazi. I love you.”
Those three phrases were the last that Monica Martin, lead vocalist for Wisconsin indie darlings PHOX, uttered to a sold-out crowd at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg (where we last saw them in 2015) on Saturday, January 28th. It also might be the last phrases that Martin says to New Yorkers as part of PHOX for a very long time.
As of February 4th, after a farewell show in their hometown of Baraboo, the orchestral folk group are taking an indefinite hiatus to focus on individual projects. As Martin said at one point during the show, it was a bittersweet concert. For fans of the group, this is especially true. PHOX leaves us with just one complete album, 2014’s self-titled debut, and it was as confident an introduction as I’ve heard in quite some time. However, we’ll have to wait a lot longer than we would like to hear new material from these midwesterners.
The silver lining, though, is that the group couldn’t have gone out on a higher note, and their concert, as bittersweet as it might have been, was a truly magical musical experience. Accurately describing how beautiful Martin’s voice is is no small task. She sounds equally brilliant live as she does on studio recordings. Her voice soars effortlessly, and the greatest quality is just how powerful and commanding it is. At the beginning of one track, clarinet and horns were providing the intro. There was still plenty of chatter in the crowd. Once Martin began singing, the room fell respectfully silent. Numerous times, as Martin’s voice moved in and out of falsetto seamlessly, men behind me stammered, “Wow,” in amazement. It was that kind of performance.
But equally as important were bassist Jason Krunfusz and keyboardist Matteo Roberts, who provided backing vocals and harmonized gorgeously with Martin all evening long. They helped add tremendous texture and richness to the songs while not missing a beat musically. Drummer Davey Roberts and guitarist Matt Holmen all had moments to shine throughout the set that lasted around an hour and a half.
The banter between songs was light, often dorky, sometimes political (like the nazi bit), but mostly funny and completely endearing. They offered some truly one-of-a-kind covers during the show, from a stunning rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” to a totally unexpected version of “Are You That Somebody” by Aaliyah that even sprinkled in some “Cry Me a River” to boot. Martin also performed some solo tracks with the ukulele and the interwebs suspects that they played a couple unproduced tracks based on setlists from shows on the tour. That’s the frustrating part of saying goodbye to this group just as they were getting started.
Brooklyn/Philadelphia sextet Cuddle Magic supported PHOX to begin the evening. The band is described as avant-pop, and based on their set, that is an apt description. There was a lot to like, but there was also a lot that just left me kind of scratching my head at times. The pieces all seem there, but at the same time it seems like the band tries a bit too hard. That could just be me not understanding the intricacies or influences or techniques of their tracks and preferring more straightforward offerings, but I tended to gravitate towards the simpler songs. Their finest moment came during their acoustic performance of “Expectations, where they hopped into the audience and played it completely stripped down. Without any bells or whistles or so many moving parts, the performance really stood out.
Four different members took leads on songs: Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christopher McDonald, Alec Spiegelman and Kristin Slipp. Davis did his best Thom Yorke impression with a head that rattled back and forth to provide a shaky quality to his vocals. Slipp was particularly impressive, especially taking the lead on closing track “Slow Rider” which is the lead track on their album Axis/Ashes that dropped the day prior, January 27th. Again, there was plenty to like, but sometimes less can be more.
All in all, this was a special night in Williamsburg, and hopefully for PHOX fans, we won’t have to wait that long before we can experience it again.
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