Brian Slattery Photo
La Tunda.
Stephany Brown, vocalist and guitarist for La Tunda, pointed at the ceiling. “I need it as loud as you can make it,” she said.
Volume was the name of the game at Cafe Nine on Friday night, which saw a triple bill of La Tunda, the Shondes, and Olive Tiger regale a crowded house with indie rock straight up — and not-so-straight up.
La Tunda — Brown, Kriss Santala on bass and vocals, and Andy Beetham on drums — exercised the format of the power trio to its full extent, as Brown and Santala harmonized on vocals and traded the bass and guitar back and forth to produce songs that ranged from textured and angular to all-out noisefest. The songwriting was up to the task, coiled and immediate.
“I got a feeling inside, it’s like a sharp object,” Brown sang. “Closer and closer each time, oh please don’t throw me back.”
The band drew the crowd in fast and held them. Later in the set, Brown said that the song they were about to play “is brand new, so pretend it sounds well-rehearsed.” There was no need to pretend. When Brown announced the band’s last song — “This is a cover. We hope you love it,” she said — an insistent voice called from the back: “More songs!”
“This is a hate song,” vocalist and bassist Louisa Rachel Solomon said to introduce the second song from The Shondes. “Love songs later.” The touring, Brooklyn-based band — Solomon, Elijah Oberman on violin, Courtney Robbins on guitar, and Alex Smith on drums — filled Cafe Nine with a raging, political set that blended a punk sound and pop songwriting. Heads bobbed as song after song burst with energy, with tight verses blossoming into meaty choruses.
And then suddenly things were quieter, as the hour drew close to midnight. Olive Tiger took the stage with a sparse set of music that started with violin, cello, and drums and somehow got even more spare when Olive switched from cello to electric guitar, backing up her own vocals with subtle chording that left a lot of space for the melody to breathe, and for violinist Jesse Newman and John McGrath to play. They obliged, and the set became intimate, though still intense. As Olive mentioned that a crazy year was drawing to a close, the music seemed all the more fitting. After a lot of rage, there was some resignation. But also hope.
