Courtney Barnett, Bob Mould, & Squirrel Flower Live Review: 7/26, Illinois Science & Technology Park Field, Skokie
Courtney Barnett
BY JORDAN MAINZER
The three artists who played the inaugural night of Out of Space Skokie at its temporary new location took advantage of the open space's clear sound and turned up the fuzz.
Headliner Courtney Barnett, three years removed from her third studio album Things Take Time, Take Time (Mom+Pop), made even that album's understated songs come alive, live. Backed by bassist Thomy Sloane and drummer Stella Mozgawa (of Warpaint, and co-producer of Things Take Time), Barnett elevated sad sack jam "Rae Street", the motorik "Turning Green", the wiry "Before You Gotta Go", and jangly single "Write a List of Things to Look Forward To", emphasizing sounds and lyrics performed and delivered much more subtly on record. "Time is money, and money is no man's friend," she sang on set opener "Rae Street", as if to contextualize the drawn-out nature of some of her back catalog highlights: the wandering "Avant Gardener", bluesy dirge "Small Poppies", and driving bass-led "City Looks Pretty". Vocally, Barnett's screamed rasp was as gravel-throated as ever, a perfect contrast to her droll sprechgesang, confirming the status of "Pedestrian at Best" as a justified shout-along.
Barnett
Stella Mozgawa
Barnett
Thomy Sloane
Yet, true to Barnett's penchant for storytelling, the anthem of the night was also the slowest song, perhaps her best: the prescient "Depreston". At once a treatise on gentrification, mortality, and time itself, it's the type of song that stops you in your tracks when you realize you're singing back at Barnett, "If you've got a spare half a million / You could knock it down and start rebuildin'," occupying the persona of the grimy real estate agent viewing what was someone's home as a pure capital good. I suppose, after all, the ease at which we sing the song is a tribute to Barnett's empathy, evidence that those of us who participate in the same society with the same set of restrictive rules, have the potential for good and evil. Or maybe it's just a catchy melody.
Barnett
Barnett & Mozgawa
Bob Mould
Bob Mould, meanwhile, performed solo, but electric, and the set was basically the answer to the question, "What would it sound like if you took away bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster from a normal Bob Mould band set?" Indeed, Mould played at the same breakneck pace as always, running around the stage during solos as if he was hyping up his invisible band. The warmth of his vocals was discernible even beside his distorted guitar tones, whether burning through a Hüsker Dü song or solo material (my one gripe from the setlist: only one Sugar song, the chintzy classic "Hoover Dam"). "Out of Space...out of breath!" Mould proclaimed in triumph after finishing "Siberian Butterfly", nonetheless a reminder to himself to keep on going even when you're the one doing all the work.
Mould
Mould
Squirrel Flower
Local artist Squirrel Flower, the project of singer-songwriter Ella O'Connor Williams, opened up the night, playing what she said may be her last show in Chicago for a while. For one, drummer Jacob Getzoff is going to nursing school, an announcement that garnered rapturous applause from the crowd. Moreover, ever prolific, Williams shared she hopes to take a break from playing live and write and record, despite having released her most recent and best album Tomorrow's Fire (Polyvinyl) less than a year ago. I'm glad I got to catch Squirrel Flower now, then, each song from Tomorrow's Fire leveled up, the slowcore "Almost Pulled Away" becoming full-on shoegaze, the crunchy "Intheskatepark" featuring drums that could have been audible even at the expansive Canal Shores. If you really want to get a sense for what Squirrel Flower sounds like live, though, simply take a look at the project's discography from start to finish. In other words, the same artist who self-released the stark early winter songs from middle america in 2015 is now faithfully covering "Cortez the Killer". To clarify, Squirrel Flower played only original material for Williams' first ever show in Skokie. "I've only been up here to get bagels," Williams said. No word on whether she's a New York Bagel & Bialy or Kaufman's person.
Squirrel Flower
Squirrel Flower