Little Joy 6/19 @ The Khyber

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Little Joy 6/19 @ The Khyber

POSTED: Monday, June 22, 2009, 5:37 PM

Filed Under: Music Show

Photos by Brion Shreffler

Plangent, trenchant and powerful.

Little Joy's greatest attribute is the plangency inherent in their sound, a thrilling evocation on ready display at The Khyber on Friday night. An early gem was frontman Rodrigo Amarante's ethereal delivery on "Evaporar," which he performed solo, his guitar trilling away while his earnest emotions transcended any language barrier (the lyrics are in Portuguese, a nod to his native Brazil, which largely shapes the band's sound).

Co-founder Binki Shapiro was disarming, her soft voice trenchant and powerful, a fitting complement to Amarante's subtly forceful near-crooning. Her occasional play on the xylophone and keyboards heightened the dream experience of compositions atmospheric yet never dilute. Amarante and Shapiro ' not in the least hindered by the absence of third founding member Fabrizio Moretti ' hardly overpowered the music; spirited strumming buoyed the vocals and laid a cadence aptly supported by the drums, while the rhythm guitar elevated each track further.

Though the guitar licks frequently seemed a device towards transport or teleportation to a distant place ' a soft echo effect on one song recalled the riffs on The Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" ' the main impetus for Little Joy wasn't something as simple as vicarious transit, but transferral, as they wished to instill in us the energy and subsequent benefits of the experience rather than simply making us long for beaches hundreds of miles away. Amarante, as well as the rest of the band, had us duly keyed as he implored, 'What are we waiting for?' on "No One's Better Sake."

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