By
Last Sunday, treat House of Ooo opened its doors to a slew of acoustic acts. From Slowdim, cialis to Soft Fangs, healing Kal Marks to Kevin King, Disposable America’s hand at a lineup made for the perfect kind of house show. The kind of show you feel at home.
Paul Sentz and Karina DaCosta of Slowdim opened the night with the perfect amount of pop. It’s safe to say the small audience at House of Ooo was least familiar with the night’s opening band, but by the end of the set were tapping their toes along with the music. After starting with “Up Stream”, a track from the band’s self-titled 2013 release, Sentz and Dacosta graced the room with a few more from the album. With Sentz on acoustic guitar and Dacosta banging the tambourine beside him, the two created a sound to match the warm breeze coming in through the windows.
Their unplugged set allowed for Sentz and Dacosta’s voice to really shine through. Sentz sang the bulk of melodies while DaCosta beautifully echoed choice lyrics, choruses and even basslines to ultimately create a sound less like the modernity of their current work, and more like the sixties pop they call influence.
John Lutkevich’s solo project Soft Fangs followed with a much more somber take, voicing his short setlist to be the more depressing of the night before chuckling and launching into his set. As former frontman of Boston’s Devil and a Penny, Lutkevich likes music as hazy as the smog circling his New York City residence. With Soft Fangs, Lutkevich gave an impression much like that of his former shoegaze outfit, singing softly to the crowd until his arrangement of a later tune had him singing in a forte unusual to his manner. It seems Lutkevich bases his lyrics off of personal experience. With a quiet character and reserved stage presence he almost seemed to be telling stories through songs, which was a real treat. The Brooklynite’s set was like acoustic shoegaze, to see the formation of a bigger sound from the simplified version he gave listeners that night.
Kevin King came to Sunday’s stage as a veteran to the acoustic set. Also of Maura, King gave the audience a few songs from his January solo release, The Still Life, an album touching on his experiences living, loving and observing the more dismal changes around him. A truly talented songwriter, King stretched his set to paint a brilliant portrait of an existence many of us know well—the restlessness of being twenty-something, the pains of fading romance, even the economic development and skyrocketing rent of our favorite city neighborhoods.
From the picturesque “Will I?” to the sweet “Pollyanna Cowgirl” to his noteworthy cover of Pedro The Lion’s, “Options”, King gave House of Ooo’s small audience a strong set from start to finish, in a mix of sad songs he delivered to listeners with serious dedication.
Carl Shane rounded 
out the night as half of Kal Marks, the heavy, warbly-voiced outfit known more for reverb than acoustic guitars. The difference between Shane’s acoustic set and usual act was significant, though the uniqueness of his voice still worked well with the night’s simplified formula. Shane thanked Disposable America before giving listeners songs from a few of his band’s albums. The bulk, and most recognizable of those being Life Is Murder, a punch-in-the-face album Kal Marks released from Exploding In Sound Records last year. “Peaking” and ‘Out in the Ocean” were two Shane sang with assurance yet lacking the more extroverted, screechy pitch he uses in recordings. Like Lutkevich, the contrast of Shane’s acoustic set from his usual on-stage sound was welcome and felt entirely like watching his creativity from the start of the writing process.