Live Music Review // Dave Scanlon / Jessica Pavone String Ensemble / Beatrice and Chanelle @ Never Ending Books, New Haven CT May 20th 2024
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After a fun Sound Church the day before, I was back out to live music again on Monday night. Things might not always feel this connected in music, in the live shows that I go to, but right now they do so I want to make note of it. This show was opened by Beatrice Peccerillo and Chanelle Allesandre, who both played the day before but not as a duo. Chanelle Allesandre was solo and Beatrice Peccerillo was part of Angel Piss. While Beatrice Peccerillo was still on the cello at this show, Chanelle Allesandre was playing a harp. This was a very string-based show.
One thing I find fun to do with live music is to really listen to each instrument. When you listen to music that is recorded, as I often do, it's not always easy to pick out what sound is coming from where. But when experiencing music live, you can see it. So for this set, I spent time trying to differentiate between the cello and the harp which I felt was somewhat easy since the cello mostly went into these deeper bass sounds while the harp was more plucked and higher pitched. But that wasn't true 100% of the time.
Both of these instruments fooled me at one point. Beatrice Peccerillo had more than one moment of playing the cello where it got higher pitched and if I was listening to this as a cassette I would've said the sounds were made by a violin. At the same time, there were moments when Chanelle Allesandre made sounds with the harp which sounded like piano keys. Oddly enough, there was a piano right there, so those keys could have easily been played to make that sound. But I looked and saw only the harp being played still.
While Beatrice and Chanelle had a sound which was borderline FIM, somewhere between that improv and classical sound, the Jessica Pavone String Ensemble was more of a straight forward classical sound. The trio was either all playing the viola or there were two violas and one violin. This was definitely this higher pitched sound because there wasn't any bass but it was beautiful all the same. It felt like we were at some grand concert in a giant hall where we would be forced to wear ties or not be allowed in.
At times during this set I also thought about my dad and how I felt like he would enjoy hearing this. My dad, a former hippie who listens to mostly only classical music now, probably would've enjoyed this entire show. I thought about ways I could maybe get the new Jessica Pavone String Ensemble album to him to listen to because he doesn't really listen to music except maybe in his car and he has a CD player there but still, maybe I'll get him a CD.
Regardless, the sound of the Jessica Pavone String Ensemble was tight. In a lot of ways it did have that orchestra feel to it, as it felt like Jessica Pavone was conducting and the trio just played so completely in sync. When seeing bands play rock music (or a similar genre) live I don't always think about what goes into it because it feels like if the bassist hits a wrong note it's not the end of the song. This experience though felt much more vital in that way of making sure it was nothing short of perfection.
The show was headlined by Dave Scanlon who said he would play "as quiet as a mouse". This is also supposed to be one of the last times Dave Scanlon plays these songs at about sharks at NEB, but I will never tire of songs about sharks. Musically I definitely feel like Dave Scanlon is doing things other musicians are not, but lyrically it seems to be right up there as well. It's not just that the lyrics aren't about the typical content you hear in songs but also that you can feel like you're learning while you listen.
And it might not even be about learning from the songs but if someone is singing a song about something I don't know about it might make me more inclined to take an interest in that subject and go read books about it. Whether you learn or not, it just becomes this experience unlike any other in live music and this was just the most fitting way to end this show which was largely centered around the playing of stringed instruments.
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