I was supposed to see SERENA MANEESH twice in one day. The plan was to see them perform an in-store at Sound Fix at 4 p.m., and then see them again later that night at Mercury Lounge, a show which I had a ticket for. Well, as it turns out, they couldn’t retrieve their equipment in time to play the in-store (they couldn’t get into North Six, where they played the night before), so instead they hung out at the store, signing autographs and talking to fans.
They reassured everyone that they’d be back in March. Indeed, they already have a Bowery Ballroom date set up for that time. But is the leap in venue size from the 200-capacity Mercury Lounge to the 500-capacity Bowery Ballroom in just two months time a sign of their growing popularity or mere hype? I would have to wait a few more hours, until their sold-out show at Mercury Lounge, to find out.
So onto Mercury Lounge it was. Before I got to see Serena Maneesh, there was openers ASOBI SEKSU. I’d never seen them perform, but heard that they had a shoegazer-ish sound similar to the headliners. Boy was that wrong! Nevertheless, they were great and very tight, with a female singer playing keyboards while cooing indecipherable lyrics in a breathy voice not dissimilar from that of LIZ FRASER (COCTEAU TWINS) or perhaps BILINDA BUTCHER from MY BLOODY VALENTINE (ok so the shoegazer comparison does have some merit). While the guitars were loud and noisy, they were almost metallic-like at times in their precision. They said they hadn’t played a show in seven months, but they could have fooled me, as they were really tight. Their show even included a very appropriate strobe light display.
Although Serena Maneesh was scheduled to go on at midnight, they didn’t end up going on until 12:45 a.m. Was the wait worth it? Well, yes and no. While I enjoyed their noisy, ramshackle set, it wasn’t quite what I expected.
Their terrific, self-titled debut album contains a lot of sonic experimentation and feedback, but all of it is augmented by good songwriting and strong melodies. This show, however, focused solely on sonic experimentation. Though I couldn’t tell for sure, some of their seemingly endless jams definitely seemed improvised. Plus, the vocals either weren’t miked properly or the male and female vocalists just weren’t singing into the mic. I could barely hear the vocals, which was a bit annoying.
Despite that, their sheer energy and physicality, combined with their stunning looks (though the lead singer/guitarist looked like he was auditioning for the role of Captain Jack in a sequel to Pirates in the Caribbean), won me over. I also couldn’t tell, based on what happened earlier, if they were even playing with their own equipment, as they thanked someone for letting them borrow some of it towards the end of their set. Thus, perhaps it was an off-night for them. Would I see them again? Sure, but while overall I enjoyed their set, I was left a bit disappointed.
Photo is courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan
