Marco Benevento


Sunday October 14, 2012 @ 8:00 PM




For more than a decade pianist/sound-sculptor/songwriter Marco Benevento has been amassing an extensive resume of composition and collaboration. His studio albums have set forth a vision for music that connects the dots between Explosions In The Sky and Tortoise on one side, Brian Eno and Brad Mehldau on the other, while in the live setting his performances reverberate with pulsating dance rock energy. The 34-year old artist takes the next step forward in this evolution with his latest album, TigerFace, on which he paints his songs in a myriad of sonic colors, shimmering with acoustic piano, synths and analog keyboards. The tunes themselves seemingly conceptualized from every wisp of melody, hook and cadence that's ever tickled his ear. Recorded and mixed by Tom Biller (Silversun Pickups, Fiona Apple) and Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Akron/Family), TigerFace features a stellar cast of musicians recruited to help capture his ideas, including drummers Matt Chamberlain (Bill Frisell, Pearl Jam), John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea & The Cake) and Andrew Barr (The Barr Brothers), bassists Dave Dreiwitz (Ween), Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green) and Mike Gordon (Phish), violinist Ali Helnwein (Traction Avenue Chamber Orchestra) and saxophonist Stuart Bogie (Antibalas, Superhuman Happiness). For the first time, Benevento presents vocals, inviting Kalmia Traver (Rubblebucket) to sing on the infectious dance rock rave-up "Limbs Of A Pine" and the pastoral psych rock meditation "This Is How It Goes." Other standouts include the angelic Arcade Fire meets The Flaming Lips anthem "Eagle Rock," the soaring garage psychedelia of "Going West," the piano riff rock jaunt "Escape Horse," and the happily lilting "Fireworks." As anybody who's seen Benevento perform live can attest, the pianist is a satellite to the muse with eyes closed, smile wide across his face and fingers free-flowing across the keys. Indeed, TigerFace, is the commitment to this pursuit; a record that rides the yes wave and in the process becomes a soundtrack for fellow travelers with their eyes set on the horizon.

"It's safe to say that no one sees the keyboard quite like Marco Benevento's genre-blind mashup of indie rock, jazz and skewed improvisation." - Los Angeles Times


Tickets:

$15, $25