The Ballroom Thieves - It’s not often that I feel as if I get what’s happening on
stage. That’s not to say that I can’t understand or interpret what an artist is
doing, it’s just that tonight I feel as if The Ballroom Thieves presented a
fully formed vision; one with subtle hints as to what’s to come in their
future. The Ballroom Thieves, a folk trio from Boston, are
accompanied by a fully fledged string orchestra this evening. There must be
over twenty people on stage, all with instruments of varying sizes. I'd be
lying if there wasn't some trepidation. It's an intimidating setup, one that
was far from expected. It's ambitious to say the least. They are backed by the
Maine Youth Rock Orchestra; an outfit not dissimilar to the School of Rock. The
group tonight consists of about twenty teenagers conducted under Kevin Oates. The
group does an excellent job of really pushing The Ballroom Thieves’ agenda
tonight, making their pieces cinematic in scope.
Usually with folk shows the talent is fighting over the
sounds of the kitchen; an ensemble of broken dishes and silverware emphasizes
the spaces and pauses. That's not the case tonight; immediately the sheer
volume overtakes me. Everything is amplified. The resulting compositions sound
as if they are part of a larger piece, like a film or hour-long drama and
ultimately that raises a couple of interesting questions; firstly does the orchestra
with their volume and emotion drown out the smaller subtle parts of songs? With
the additional backing, initially it felt as if that may be the case,
ultimately though I feel as if that was part of the plan. While we may not be
able to hear every slide, breath, or legato, we instead are forced to envision
these pieces as something that is greater than the sum of its parts. I was
especially worried about the vocals but all three members performed with
exceptional gusto. In fact, the vocals were some of the strongest both in
volume and emotion that I have heard regardless of genre. The other question
that the orchestra backing had me thinking about was about honesty; meaning was
their addition unintentionally weight or emotion to The Ballroom Thieves songs?
Fortunately the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra took some time to allow the band to
breathe on their own midway through the set so I could answer that question.
Initially, guitarist Martin Earley does most of the heavy
lifting. His quiet finger picking slides across his acoustic, offering a nice
juxtaposition to his strong vocals. Earlier I suspected that the band might be
compensating for the orchestra but that was not the case. And as the set
continues each member is highlighted as they each take the lead. As they
continued, I was surprised how little we heard Calin Peters play her cello. I
imagined that we would hear more of that particular instrument once the
orchestra left. When there is but one
cello player amongst the typical, it is easy, at least sonically, to pick it
out and understand what it is that it adds to the compositions. The anger,
rage, confusion, and sadness can completely change the dynamic of a song or
even an entire album (see The Ugly Organ). Here Calin has to compete with an
entire string orchestra. So aside from a few flourishes any addition that she
brings to the pieces is ultimately enveloped by those that play as back up.
Fortunately though, she finally picks up here piece and let's go. It works well with the last piece; Martin
finally gets to pummel his guitar and Calin gets to add the flourishes I wrote of
earlier.
And it is that last piece that they play without the orchestra
that is their strongest. I was surprised with the energy coming from just a
bass, tom and crash. Devin does an excellent job of getting the most out of his
handicapped set and it really worked well. With some of the earlier pieces it
felt as if the backing could be interchangeable, each member a soloist; but
without relying too heavily on one particular member the piece really stood out
as something important.
The orchestra returns and the score continues; the beat of
the drums floods the orchestra. Playing the theme to Game of Thrones reinforces the idea of the cinematic. At this
point, I feel as if this idea of cinematic is intentional. Though I am not one
for medieval fantasy and dragons, small tours showcasing the power of your
songwriting backed by an orchestra is a strong way to sell yourself. The dragon
talk continues as they close the set and at this point it seems safe to say
that, the band too, feels something cinematic about tonight too. I can see it,
there are dragons in their future, and all they need is a good agent. Game of Thrones, How to Train your Dragon, this is folksy traveling music with a
little bite. If The Ballroom Thieves are not scoring some medieval adventure in
the next decade, then I am not a marginally talented, unemployable, tolerated
writer. Get on it guys.
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