REVIEW: The Internet, Moonchild @ Paradise Rock Club 12/05
By Olivia Amitay
On Dec. 5, the Internet performed at Paradise Rock Club on their Hive Mind Tour, just under six months after the release of their fourth studio album. This alternative R&B group consists of Syd on main vocals, Matt Martians on keys, Patrick Paige II on bass, Steve Lacy on guitar, and Chris Smith on drums.
It would be unfair to skip past the ethereal show that Moonchild put on as the Internet’s opening act. Moonchild, formed at the University of Southern California, is made up of Amber Narvan, Max Byrk, and Andris Mattson. Narvan served as lead vocals, while Byrk and Mattson dominated the keys. Narvan’s flowing, fiery red, two-piece jumpsuit was a visual representation of Moonchild’s energy: vibrant, warm, and refreshing. While it seemed that the crowd was not familiar with most of the group’s songs, this was not an obstacle in stimulating excitement within the venue. One of Moonchild’s tools in setting themselves apart from other forgettable opening acts was their mastery of various instruments. The trance placed by Narvan’s wistful voice was shattered as she and Mattson erupted in a delightful saxophone duet. If this wasn’t enough to blow the crowd away, Moonchild had a couple more tricks up their sleeves, including a barrage of flute, trumpet, and clarinet solos.
The only downside to Moonchild’s performance was a lack of vocal intensity. Narvan would noticeably pull the mic away when hitting especially high or powerful notes. While this might have aligned with Moonchild’s light and breezy vibe, it teased the audience. Narvan was dangling the fruit of her full vocal potential in front of our faces, and it left us hungry and slightly unsatisfied.
The hunger that lingered in the air was zapped out of existence when Patrick Paige’s groovy bassline on “Come Together” echoed through Paradise Rock Club. The Internet’s decision to start the show off with “Come Together” rather than one of their more popular songs on the album came off as a symbolic choice. Hive Mind emerged three years after the release of their third studio album Ego Death. In this hiatus, each member of the band released their own solo works, each work encompassing a unique, never before heard sound. These solo albums and EPs acted as an outlet for each member to explore and fulfill their own personal musical desires so that the band could come together and create a collective and coherent sound. “Come Together” was the perfect song to establish that all members of the Internet fully embraced a musical and stylistic hivemind.
I had originally come into this concert hoping to hear a few songs from solo works such as Steve Lacy’s Steve Lacy’s Demo or Patrick Paige II’s Letters of Irrelevance. After the concert, I was ashamed of even having this thought. Every song, every solo, every movement fit together with such effortlessness, that the insertion of other works into the setlist would have thrown the balance of the show completely off. The Internet did a great job of playing exactly what the audience wanted to hear. This was a Hive Mind tour and nine out of 16 of the songs in the setlist came off of the album. The crowd would erupt in hoots and hollers when Syd would ask if we wanted to hear more of the Internet’s older music.
There was such a swagger about the Internet’s performance that I couldn’t describe in words. This changed after the band played “La Di Da,” when the perfect word to convey the marvel happening before my eyes slipped out of Syd’s mouth: suave. The band had suave movements, suave guitar riffs, suave dance moves, even suave visuals playing behind them, such as shimmering disco balls and rolling fields of sunflowers. The sophistication and unique energy of their performance was enough to land them the main stage of Coachella. But it wasn’t this that made the Internet’s performance worth obsessing over.
The intimacy they fostered made the show feel like it was taking place in the garage of a a small-town high school kid. Syd gave the audience peeks into her personal life and how it affected the music the Internet produced. She explained that “It Gets Better (With Time)” is about her past struggles with depression and is dedicated to the band’s good friend Mac Miller, and how “Wanna Be” was a tool to win over her current girlfriend. Gestures like Lacy sipping on his tea in between songs and Syd, Lacy, and Paige performing “Spend the Night” on the couch situated in the middle of the stage also gave off the impression that the band was comfortable with the crowd.
The Internet’s ability to find harmony between a star mentality and humble genuinity left my jaw dropped for hours, and will have my mind occupied for weeks to come.