Assembly of Roches
The Roches made it sound as though it were nearly impossible to get a hometown gig, but a few nights ago the New York Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side was packed with loudly appreciate fellow travelers. As well they should be. Sisters Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche are wise and witty songwriters, genetically enhanced harmonizers, nimble guitarists, and proudly eccentric. And Moonswept, their first album as a trio in eleven years, proves it.
Roches songs are often autobiographical, which means that on Friday, nearly thirty years after the release of their eponymous debut, the sisters sang about aging, regret, optimism, and simply struggling to get by in post 9/11 New York. Terre's "Gung Ho," which opened the show, pins mild irony ("Everybody said I would be OK/ Not one of them is standing to this day") to a perky melody the Andrew sisters might have harmonized closely, while Suzzy's "Huh" is a goofy series of non sequiturs (It's a no go, bad boy, I'd like to be a nice old, duh") suggesting a stalled love affair. The former Paul Simon back-up singers slipped into past tense with their a cappella version of "The Hallelujah Chorus," their chiming ode to another doomed relationship ("Ing"), their perfect band introduction ("We), and two secular prayers collected and set to music for their Harvard-sponsored Zero Church project. The Roches cover a remarkable amount of emotional territory in an evening and should seriously consider playing here more often.
Afterward I subwayed down to the Bowery Ballroom, where my (full disclosure) eMusic.com colleague Reid Genauer was leading his crackerjack Assembly of Dust band. The audience was considerably younger, and no less enthusiastic, for the AOD's neoclassic country-rock (some songs resemble a genetically engineered hybrid of the Band and the Dead) punched up with moves from the great underground improvised-rock scene that swept the Northeast during the nineties. The AOD's new Recollection practically defines gung-ho.