Saturday night a red glow suffused Spaulding Auditorium as Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, a Boston-based art-rock group, pounded, squealed, groaned and maraca'd to a rapt audience. But these were no aloof avant-garde poseurs: they brandished their rock roots with complete abandon, and with a Mr. T washboard and a Mercury Cougar hubcap on the side.
"You may have noticed that we don't sing ... which is fortunate for you," said saxophonist Ken Field.
Their opening number, "The True Wheelbase," combined Jimi Hendrix-style power chords with piano riffs reminiscent of avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, all slammed down to a sequencer-defined 15/8 beat.
Pianist and bandleader Erik Lindgren stood and headbanged several times during the course of the performance.
"His tuxedo jacket and floppy hair gave him the mad pianist look," Ginny Fang '97 commented after the performance.
Birdsongs' first set included a cover of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn," in which bars of the original melody were tastefully and humorously interspersed with seemingly random noise. The set ended with a heart-stilling rendition of Brian Wilson's "Our Prayer" and the band's signature song, "Beat of the Mesozoic/Part One," the most musically and visually dazzling composition of the entire show.
In "Beat of the Mesozoic," smoke filled the stage, creating a primordial haze in which a relentless drumbeat framed chaotic riffs and lines by Lindgren, Field, and guitarist Michael Bierylo. A theremin (the first electronic instrument ever made) made eerie bird-calls and whistles under Lindgren's hands. Strobe lights took over as all members of the band began to beat tribal rhythms on tom-toms around the stage.
The group's humor was most apparent in the first set. The third piece, "Why Not Circulate," was a satirical tango in which Lindgren stood up and played a washboard with a picture of Mr. T on it. In "Beat of the Mesozoic," Field beat on a Mercury Cougar hubcap to add to the rhythmic structure. And guitarist Bierylo ended a tune with a mocking ukelele-style arpeggio.
At a post-performance discussion held in the auditorium, Bierylo explained, "We try to include something familiar in each song." However, there was less of the familiar in Birdsongs' second set. The music was darker and more introspective, filled with haunting urgency and stark modernism. The audience seemed less able to connect to the music, as compelling as it was.
Billed as a "visual, interactive experience," the group used a wide array of lighting effects and two videos (one of which did not play correctly), but lacked any interactive component.
For all its percussive barrage and depth, Birdsongs never took themselves too seriously in the course of the performance. With youthful vigor, they jerked about, bobbed and headbanged happily. Instead of choosing to align the group with Phillip Glass, Lindgren compared them, in an interview with The Dartmouth, to "Phillip Glass with a whoopie cushion," and their performance amply demonstrated this intriguing balance of intellect and humor.
