Shannon Wright live

Shannon Wright
Schubas, Chicago
Friday, February 22, 2008

Shannon Wright’s fifth album, Let In The Light (Quarterstick), dropped the guitars from 2005’s Over The Sun like a three-headed kitten. But such a feline has more than the customary nine lives and Wright cashed one in Friday at Schubas.

There was some question as to how Wright might reproduce Light‘s more complicated arrangements in a concert setting — previous indie pop-ish albums like Flightsafety and Dyed In The Wool are far from pedestrian, but can easily drop pounds for the pre-match weigh-in. The layered vocals on “Everybody’s Got Their Own Part To Play” foretold its exclusion and presenting her music via a trio suggested more cuts.

Yet it was also unexpected Wright — whose stage demeanor borders on possession — would treat her new tunes as if they were perfunctory. “You Baffle Me” was as fleeting as her falsetto, and the guitar-based “St. Pete,” which might have been written with Heartless Bastards in mind, felt buoyant if insubstantial.

“St. Pete” did get her correct as far as the guitar was concerned, and when she delved into older material and never looked back (made difficult already by the fact she habitually shuts her eyelids). “With Closed Eyes” sharpened her attack immediately; its opening notes were roughly forced to pop into place as her thumb and fingers crudely picked them. “Black Little Stray” evened out the intensity enough for “Portray” to bring the evening into total pop dysfunction. Howling away from the microphone and dancing with herself, Wright made each staggering, rhythmic stop mean absolutely everything — perhaps including the direction of her next album.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly