Smack in the center of all the action at MoPop sits the Sky Church, a vastly open space with toweringly tall ceilings and a giant screen that rivals the highest-end of movie theaters. Mesh, beige parasols float from the ceiling, and the tiles in the floor are interspersed with mini-exhibit shadowboxes. With something new to notice everywhere you look, Sky Church is a space that makes you feel like, well, the sky’s the limit. And it’s the perfect space for Sound Off!, MoPop’s annual battle of the bands for ages 21 and under.
Due to snowmageddon, the first round of semifinals, which was scheduled for February 9th, was cancelled. The four bands slotted to play were dispersed over the next two rounds of semifinals, bringing each round to a total of six performances. On the 23rd, the second semifinal will take place. On March 2nd, the first place winner of each round, the higher-scoring second place winner, and a wildcard chosen by MoPop’s Youth Advisory Board will duke it out in the finals for the ultimate title of Sound Off! 2019 champion.
Zoser
Opening the competition on Saturday was Zoser, a Seattle-via-Georgia acoustic singer-songwriter with a natural ability to command an audience. Stepping onstage with just his guitar and looper, Zoser’s songs were filled with fast-paced, intricate lyricism and full guitar chords. For his second tune, Zoser taught the crowd the pattern of his “oohs” and “ohs,” and everyone happily sang along. The kicker, though, was that when the second round of our part rolled around, everyone dove right in, without any prodding.
Having that much control of your audience is a skill that many established bands struggle with. It was truly impressive to witness Zoser’s leadership.
Between tunes, Zoser disarmed the audience with stories about his songwriting and about his dog running around in the snow that postponed the first round of semifinals. His charm comes from knowing exactly who he is: a kid from Georgia that loves Ed Sheeran and John Mayer.
i///u
Next up was i///u, a local neo-soul band made up of UW students. The crowd was hyped up for their set long before they started playing (and, afterwards, their merch line was hoppin’). The septet clearly contains a smattering of incredibly talented kids, from lead singer Katyrose Jordan, who vacillated between vocals and playing a flute, to the band’s founder, Scott Elder, who colorfully charmed the crowd with his just-himself attitude and steady bass playing. The few tracks the band has recorded are wonderfully layered and complex, which explains why the crowd was so ready for their set.
Unfortunately, the group’s live performance sounded more cacophonous than intricate. The parts all jumbled together, making it difficult to hold down a beat or be pulled into their performance. While Jordan’s voice itself is beautifully reminiscent of Etta James, her mic control was fluttery at best, so oftentimes it was hard to hear her. The rest of the band seemed relatively flustered, and the whole set sounded rushed. With only a 20-minute set, it makes sense that bands would want to jam pack as much in there as possible, but a solid, four-song set with space to breathe realizes much better than a rushed, five-song plop.
The bright spot in this performance was Elder, who I would pay just to watch exist. His aura feels like a balloon filled with laughing gas slowly stretching its way over you. Even when his back was turned away from the audience, he was compelling as he funked out on his bass. i///u’s performance might have been helped had Elder taken center stage, as opposed to Jordan.
wilsonlikethevolleyball
When wilsonlikethevolleyball came up, the crowd erupted; this guy’s got friends. He plays electronic music and sings overtop, and, while EDM is certainly not my thing, he was able to pull me in with his honesty. In a literal sense, after his first track, he stopped and said “my name is wilsonlikethevolleyball, and I push buttons.” More figuratively, as he bounced across the stage, you could hear the passion and sincerity in him, and it was compelling.
Having first applied for Sound Off! At age 10 and now in his last eligible year at 21, it’s been a journey for wilson. He’s clearly working with some insecurities — emcee Troy Nelson introduced wilson by telling the crowd that he was doing pushups backstage to get ready for his set, and, when wilson walked onstage, he went up to the mic and said he wanted to make it clear that he’s not good at pushups, he’s just doing them to release anxiety — but it’s also clear he’s working through them. Before one song, he told us that he’d never played it live before, because he was embarrassed of it. wilson puts it all on the line, and he gets mad kudos for that.
He left the stage by saying he was going to go cry, and that was that.
Nora Meier
Starting up the second half of the lineup was Nora Meier, a high school senior out of Portland. A jazzy singer-songwriter, she opened with “Bluebird,” which drew an instant connection to Sara Bareilles (for me, at least). Sitting simply behind her keyboard, Meier was a stark contrast from the high energy of the acts before her.
Meier’s pure vocals and quiet confidence were mesmerizing, as her hands danced across the keys and her voice rang out through the room. There wasn’t much variety between her songs — all of them were relatively slow love ballads — but it worked for her 20 minute set. Commanding behind a song and girlish in personality, it will be exciting to see how Meier’s sound develops as she grows into adulthood.
King Sheim
King Sheim, an angsty, punk rock project fronted by Celeste Felsheim, brought a real-life, old-school prom to Sky Church. Felsheim herself donned a black, sparkly romper with black combat boots, and her bassist rocked a plaid suit with black suspenders. With songs like “Prom Heels” and Felsheim’s penchant for calling her friends out by name throughout the set, King Sheim made me want to dance the night away and stick it to the man.
While the band wasn’t super tight, it didn’t really matter. This group has all the makings of greatness, from Felsheim’s admission of looking at her “arm setlist” to the group’s bit about being thirsty to introduce their track, “Grape Soda,” not to mention the generally impeccable songwriting. Fuck being tight; this is punk rock, and this was the performance of the night.
Huey and the Inflowentials
Huey and the Inflowentials, a local, jazz-backed, hip-hop five-piece, closed out the first round of semifinals. A very close second to King Sheim, Huey’s main drawback was the massive amount of repetition in their choruses. The performance itself, though, was energetic and fulfilling. Rapping over phat beats from the band that made you just want to lean back into that groove, Huey had the crowd at his fingertips from the start.
The Inflowentials themselves were probably the tightest band of the night. The rhythm section knew how to hold down a beat, whereas, with some of the other groups, it was hard to lock into the vacillating groove. Their stage set up was also well thought out, with Huey up front, free to roam, and everyone else (besides the drums) spaced out on either side of him. With the bassist directly to Huey’s left, it was fun to watch the contradiction between the steady bass lines and Huey’s bombarding flow. These are some cool cats, and they know it.
And the winner is…
Third place: Zoser
Second place: Huey and the Inflowentials
First place: i///u
Quite frankly, i///u does not deserve this win. They’re a talented bunch, but their stage presence was highly lacking (besides Elder), and, for a battle of the bands style competition, it doesn’t matter how good your recordings sound. They need more practice before they come out and hit it hard. Hopefully, they’ll put in some work before the finals and really show us what they’re made of.
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