A drug-addled gay icon once said, “There’s no place like home.” When The Books quietly stepped back onstage for their first show in two years, it was, fittingly, at the place they call home. Living in North Adams, MA, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong previously served as artists in residence back in 2006 for the little-town-that-could’s illustrious Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA if you’re nasty). Like any homecoming after a long absence, the boys were both happy and a little nervous. “Just like we’d never been gone,” Zammuto quipped, after the crowd’s warm welcome. Taking up his cello, de Jong surveyed the theater, “You came! I’m astounded! …And visibly shaken!”
While fiddling with the DVD and projection system that would accompany the band’s mixed-media stylings, Zammuto attributed the two-year layoff to the “massive collection of audio and video tapes” they had to sort. Undoubtedly having found a self-help psychiatry goldmine at some poor sap’s garage sale, he introduced the first piece by saying “we’re really into hypnotherapy. ...Usually it’s one therapist and a group of patients; this is one patient and a group of therapists.” One of a handful of new songs debuted on the night, “Group Therapy” combined the band’s familiar loops, dulcet cello, and inventive guitar as floating heads spouted psychobabble ranging from the impenetrable to the utterly laughable.
“That Right Ain’t Shit” and “Take Time,” both from the group’s second album, The Lemon of Pink, elicited cheers of recognition from fans, and were accompanied respectively by old footage of men with and without hats, and a mélange of scenes depicting communities in Bible Belt megachurches and poor African villages.
Following the two old favorites were more debuts. “Cold Freezing Night” featured the voices of children making disturbing or perplexing statements against a pounding staccato score. One child repeatedly makes death threats, often elaborating in graphic detail: “I’ll kill you. I’ll cut off your toes… work my way up. I’ll rip your hair off.” Another little girl simply repeats the phrase “I wish I was a boy” throughout the song. The song’s refrain of “Cold freezing night/ Oh baby!” lends some comedy, combining with the angry child’s gruesome imagination for some interesting gallows’ humor.
“Hypnotherapy” continued the psychiatry theme, this time with a medical slant. The song’s percussive march evoked the sounds of heavy breathing, which were appropriately accompanied by synchronized video of a trachea drawing in air.
“Geese” came next, exemplifying what The Books do best. The song floats along pleasantly, using the flourishes of odd-sounding goose calls to lend unique color. If not for the title, or the source video of camo-clad hunters perfecting their call of the wild, one might picture the noise coming from some obscure instrument, a perverted kazoo, or hacked-up ProTool. The band recognizes that potential in the strangest of sources, and beautifully incorporates it into their musical landscape.
A short spoken-word piece dubbed “Meditation,” followed. The word repeats with different inflections as anagrams appeared onscreen -- “Do it in meat” being the biggest hit with the audience. “It Never Changes to Stop,” from Lost and Safe, twinkled along with its simple banjo, described cryptically by Zammuto as “the voice of the planet Saturn.”
In its 8/8 time signature, a new track, appropriately named “8 Frame,” centers on a slow build. The song boasts a wonderful change when the 8/8 verse gives way to a brief bridge in 3/4, before continuing its momentum. The build then pays off as the crescendo is matched onscreen by gorgeous super-slow-mo footage of popcorn kernels popping and a bursting water balloon.
“Classy Penguin,” by Zammuto’s brother Mikey, who has a band that shares the song’s name, was played to quirky home movies. The instrumental is one of only a few songs in The Books’ repertoire without lyrics or added audio. Another of Zammuto’s brothers, Mark, inspired the next piece, “Smells Like Content,” with his woodland stream-of-consciousness musings. The Books played dueling basses as the video ran the lyrics and images of nature. The Animal Planet theme then continued with spliced footage of wildlife for the ensuing song, “An Owl With Knees.”
A collaboration with artist Rich Remsberg, “Funeral March” closed the set. Inspired by a series of the saddest videos they could collect, the lyrics reflect the content. “I was born with a tea cup on my head” accompanies footage of an undersized infant with a tea cup held on its head to illustrate its size. The reel progresses with images of fire, flooding, and suffering, matching the song’s sorrowful tone. However, the subdued feel did not prevent a rousing ovation, as the men gave their thanks and made what would be their first attempt at an exit.
Unsurprisingly, the hometown crowd wouldn’t let Nick and Paul walk off stage so easily. Barely making it beyond the curtain before turning tail back to the spotlight, The band’s cover of Nick Drake’s “Cello Song” served as a rewarding encore. Recorded with Jose Gonzalez for the compilation Dark Was The Night, the subtle IDM backbeat gives new perspective to the major scale melody and memorable cello riff. When they stood up, just as before, it was obvious the noise would not be dampened without another return.
The two re-emerged, again, for one more song. Zammuto shared that he’d just had a baby, and that the last track, “All A’s,” was written for him. Best described as Sesame Street on a bad acid trip, the video moved through the alphabet, as the music leapt dramatically in mood from measure to measure -- one relaxed and the next instantly scatterbrained. It was easy to see why the new dad said his tribute scared his newborn.
After the two finally exited successfully, the crowd milled about the space, either browsing the wares, peeking at the art, or waiting for a word or two with one of pop music’s most innovative duos. Promotional materials for the museum lay about the rooms. The back of one magazine read, “Enjoy art more often.” With The Books around, that is certainly possible.
Setlist:
Group Therapy
That Right Ain’t Shit
Take Time
Cold Freezing Night
Hypnotherapy
Geese
Meditation
It Never Changes to Stop
8 Frame
Classy Penguin
Smells Like Content
An Owl With Knees
Funeral March
--Encore--
Cello Song (encore)
All A’s (second encore)
[Photo: http://www.thebooksmusic.com]
