by Brian Capuder
If you’re a Beirut fan, you’ll love Bright Moments. This isn’t quite fair to Bright Moment’s Kelly Pratt, a man who is in Beirut and has collaborated in Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem. It’s not fair to him because the project is extremely different from anything Beirut has ever done—there aren’t any sweeping falsettos, horn collaborations are more rare (though just as brilliant), and there’s more synthesizer work. Whereas Beirut shows can run a fan up to 40 bucks on sale originally, a fan could have seen Bright Moments at 92Y Tribeca for a mere 12 bucks and get to see a brilliant set out of the professional Kelly Pratt and company.
92Y Tribeca is a really unique venue. For one, it’s very small—something that can’t be taken for granted in New York City. It looks (and feels) very much like one is seeing a concert in a movie theatre. The room even smelled like buttered popcorn upon first arrival and gave off a very worldly vibe.
The first band to play was Nikhil Yerawadekar & Low Mentality. The first reaction to awkward members of Low Mentality was fear, but they definitely found comfort behind their instruments. Even though all of their dance moves remained as awkward as they looked, they played together to create a sound that was really unique. Nikhil is extremely natural with his guitar and can even play synthesizer solos that sound like they sprung from a guitar. Songs like “No Fun” were ironically a lot of fun and make them a noteworthy up-and-comer. After the set Nikhil just moved his guitar over and got ready to play guitar with Bright Moments.
Bright Moments opened up with the heavy hitters from their recently released premier album including “Tourists,” “Travelers,” “Sailor,” and “Milwaukee Protocol.” While the initial response may have been panic (they used up all their hits!), they managed to continually find ways to be interesting.
Pratt formatted the band so that whenever people wanted to break out a solo, they have the liberty to do so. The bandleader would utilize this himself when bedazzling the audience with his perfect trumpet tone and melody. Then, when he thought it was time to move on, he would just give the signal and the band would start to wrap up.
The moment that took this concert to the next level was a cover of “Foreign Accents” (a very peculiar song by Robert Wyatt). They took what could have been a catastrophic moment—the bass player’s amp chord wasn’t working—and turned it into the most beautiful night of the show. This all took place in the middle of a Pratt trumpet solo, which, in an effort to stall for time, he continued longer than he had anticipated. The result: a tender, fantastic and emotional trumpet solo that was an extension of Pratt himself. Pratt, who always comes off as a nice, average guy, has really hit gold with Bright Moments, a must-see band.
Brian Capuder is a contributing writer. Email him at music@nyunews.com.
