Theodore Paul & Gabriel played Salon IKSV last night (Friday 19 April) and put in the work winning the audience over to their brand of minimalist folk rock. Their body of work is an ambitious undertaking, not on technical grounds but because their genre was defined decades ago by the likes of Little Feat and inspired artists like the Stones and Terry Reid.
Put another way, they find themselves filling pretty large shoes and with asshole critics such as myself already comparing them to venerable rock titans, defining themselves comes as no easy task. That said, Clémence Gabriel has a vocal fry reminiscent of Janis Joplin that merges well with the backing vocals of Theodora and Pauline and gets right at the 1960s folk rock ethos that the band is channeling. Not long into the set I was picking up on influences of legends like Al Stewart and Richie Havens, and it worked.
The group switches seamlessly between rock and roll grooves and more down tempo songs that highlight the singer-songwriter dynamic of Gabriel. This same dynamic allows the group to avoid pop maximalist tropes and defines their minimalist sound. Gabriel leads with straightforward vocal melodies and acoustic guitar riffs that the instrumentation compliments, rather than cluttering the songs with disparate notes and alternate melodies. Théodora Delilez on bass and Benjamin Colin working the drums form a rock solid rhythm section that propels the music forward and allows Gabriel the space to play with vocal nuance. The band works hard to keep their set and song structure dynamic by avoiding formulaic structures, at times making it difficult to decipher where the verse, chorus and bridge are but after a few songs, the confusion sounds appropriate.
The show went off without any major hitches despite an underwhelming turnout. Like many bands that play Istanbul, they were working with the club’s equipment, which caused a few minor programming errors but meant that the sound technicians knew exactly how to mic the gear. This explains how a smaller venue was able to get such stellar sound out of a one night stand. In other words, the sound there is great and each instrument was well represented in the mix. Theodore Paul & Gabriel, modded out in black suite-coats and white lapel collars look like the female version of the first wave of the British Invasion bands and judging by the ubiquity of smart-phones held aloft, this wasn’t lost on the audience.
This brings me to my final consideration, the use of personal electronics during a performance. Listen, I played shows before that were less than stellar and I understand that performers aren’t entitled to your undivided attention but with the rise of smart-phones some sort of decorum must be established. Not ten minutes into the show, while Gabriel was working up a sweat on stage and the band was powering through an especially infectious number, a member of the audience in the front row was updating his Facebook account and I soon noticed that others in the crowd were busy tweeting, whats-apping and Facebooking. It was hard to tell whether the obliviousness of these individuals or the acts themselves were more shameful but either way, it was highly embarrassing and not lost on the performers. It was a reprehensible display and does nothing to enhance the reputation of Istanbul as a music friendly city. So given the success with which social media has penetrated and polluted our private lives, perhaps rock and roll is worth saving for those who paid money at the door to support the band, not you hundreds of followers on twitter.
Lewis King is a contributor for Yabangee
