Colin Meloy opened with "Shiny" at his solo show Friday night. Arlington, Va.'s Iota Club was filled to the brim with concert-goers eager to see the lead singer and whimsical songwriter for Portland-based band the Decemberists play a show on his own.
The big test for Meloy would be proving to an audience rabidly obsessed with him and his backing band that he could cut it on his own. Luckily, the cheeky Oregonian-by-way-of-Montana braced the small venue with a demurely appreciative attitude, giving the crowd the sense of intimacy that his full band occasionally lacks.
The Decemberists' uniqueness is often based on narrative, somewhat archaic lyrics. The character-study formula behind Meloy & Co.'s songwriting is greatly appealing and utterly charming, but can be a little disarming in concert, leaving the average hipster befuddled. When stripped of all the grandeur that comes with the accordion, melodica and upright bass, the music of the Decemberists retains its delicacy while removing its alienating qualities.
"Shiny," off the "5 Songs" EP, came off as a burst of energy as Meloy devoted himself to the song rather than leaning on the whole band. He immediately followed with "My Mother was a Chinese Trapeze Artist," off the same EP, which was given the same intensive treatment as "Shiny."
Perhaps one of the best examples of Meloy's solo prowess was "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground," in which the delicate nuances of the melody were given permission to undulate throughout the song, rather than being constrained to the last few minutes when the whole band kicks into crescendo. "The Gymnast" may be one of the band's most solid examples of songwriting, and that was even more evident when it was void of the clashing cymbals and steady drumbeat that otherwise give it a sense of unnecessary urgency.
Meloy dazzled the Iota crowd with a few songs from his covert EP of Morrissey covers, which were on sale at the front desk and leaving the venue in the hands of excited fans with breakneck speed. Oddly enough, the Moz's songs take on a whole new form when done with Meloy's articulate, sharp voice and looping guitar work. The dreariness of Morrissey was traded in for a lilting kick. It is as if Meloy is not capable of sounding as frustratingly dismal, which can be especially refreshing considering Morrissey's total brilliance.
Laced between vignettes of previously released material and Morrissey covers were a few songs that will appear on the upcoming Decemberists release, "Picaresque." The acoustic treatment did "Eli, the Barrowboy" and "We Both Go Down Together" a lot of good, as they are both laden with sweeping string arrangements or piano lines that just seem incongruous to the antiquated beauty of earlier recordings. It's like listening to Rachmaninoff after spending a week with Bach. Meloy also gave the willing audience a taste of a would-be "Picaresque" track, in which he sang of a bandit queen, describing it as something of a "campfire song." In any event, the endearing feel to the craft of his songs sustained the audience.
The show concluded with early songs like "Leslie Anne Levine" and "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" off of the "Castaways & Cutouts" album. Meloy played them with the same tender dedication that he awarded to the newer stuff, as if to indicate his acknowledgement of what created this band's success. He spoke of his bandmates and their little on-stage behavior traits with a sense of sentiment, as if he missed them dearly while on this solo tour. It's perfectly acceptable for Meloy to miss them - the band is a concrete foundation in the wishy-washy world of indie rock. But the crowd at Iota was given a glimpse at what the man is capable of when he stands alone.
