Brooklyn-based duo Tanlines amassed a following in sunny Miami. When you live in Miami you quickly notice the shortage of concerts, so when a good one comes along you latch on. A few weeks before I graduated high school word spread that Tanlines was playing a new mini-warehouse venue downtown. With the combination of blue strobe lights and infectious rhythms, my high-school self lost my ever-loving mind. Needless to say, when Tuesday night’s show at the Sinclair was announced, I literally squealed in my otherwise silent office.
Tuesday night, vocalist and guitarist Eric Emm took the stage alongside multi-instrumentalist Jesse Cohen. The duo kicked off the night with my favorite track off of their 2012’s Mixed Emotions, “Brothers.” The stage melted into a blue haze as Cohen slipped into his own world surrounded by his keyboards and drum pads. Emm immediately hypnotized me as he sang “you’re just the same as you ever were/you fight it, you wonder why it makes no sense/I’m just the same as I’ve ever been/but I’m the only one who doesn’t notice it.”
I saw a lot of head bobbing, a decent amount of melodic swaying – but Tanlines is the place to dance. This was the time to raise your arms above your head and just let your body move. Cohen took the lead on the stage-banter-front, asking how everyone was doing literally between every single song. What Cohen lacks in stage-banter, he makes up for with charm in the giddy way he sings along with Emm while drumming.
The duo’s setlist covered both releases, 2012’s full length Mixed Emotions and their 2010 EP Settings. Most of the night was kept sweaty and upbeat with tracks like “Yes Way,” “Bejan,” and “Lost Somewhere.”
While Tanlines is certainly dance-oriented, Emm and Cohen seamlessly wove in more emotional points into the night with slower tracks like “Nonesuch.” A track that opens with a closed-eyed Emm as he crooned, “There’s a part of me that wants to say, there’s a part of me over you.” With Cohen gently swapping between poppy synth keys in one hand and a single drumstick in the other. The evolution of this tracks catches the audience in a swirling chorus, “All right, I said I’m ready now” repeats and as you sing along with him, reassuring yourself that you’re better and stronger now without whoever that “you” of your past is.
Tanlines is a duo who knows how to play to their strengths as illustrated by the end of the setlist. After the mellow interlude, Cohen kicked the energy back up 100-volts with steel drums on the ever-electrifying “Real Life.” Finally the whole floor was on their feet! This was what I had been waiting for and to be quite honest I would pay for a Tanlines gig if only for these five minutes of pure bliss.
Thank you, Converse for putting on this free gig (big high-five for the photo booth, who doesn’t love a free photo booth?). I only have one complaint. Please, music lovers of Boston – if you reserve tickets for a free gig, have the courtesy to show up. This night was “sold out” but you’d never have known that from the inside.
