Word: barlowe
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...line like you used to, motherfucker.” Heard at a concert, these words might suggest a pissed-off crowd or a burgeoning riot. It’s quite a different matter, however, when these words are spoken by the musician to himself, as Lou Barlow proved when he wittily muttered them at the Middle East Upstairs last Wednesday. In the context of that intimate setting, on one of the first dates of his new tour, the words shed an old light on the new Barlow...
...show last week was just the second in support of his new album, Emoh (both “home” backwards and a tongue-in-cheek reference to the ephemeral music recently popularized by acts like Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday), since its Jan. 25 release. Barlow had to delay the promotion of the record for over a month, and for good reason: Emoh entered stores just two days before his first daughter was born, and he has spent the time since caring for her and his wife, who suffered complications from the pregnancy...
Though Emoh sounds distinctly different from his other recordings—even the quasi-solo tapes he released under the moniker Sentridoh in the late ’90s—it is very much a classic Barlow work, particularly when performed. In recorded form, the new disc’s sonic clarity is a clear contrast to the rest of his catalog’s muffled lo-fi recordings. Performed live, the sound is still very stripped-down, allowing the soft earnestness of the songs to shine through. Barlow even employed two microphones, one clean and one muffled, switching...
Barlow’s fans continually requested their own pet sounds in an atmosphere reminiscent of a gathering of old friends. Barlow graciously accepted many requests, and mixed enjoyable crowd banter in with his mellifluous singing. Despite a history of rough musical relations (he was booted from Dinosaur Jr. because of his overbearing nature, and was responsible also for the breakups of both Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion), Barlow came off as neither stern nor aloof, and affably shared memories and stories with the audience all night...
Wednesday, March 2. Lou Barlow and Chris Brokaw. With Mark Shwaber. 18+. Middle East Upstairs. $12. Tickets available through Ticketmaster...