by Holli Stephens
Union Transfer has been on a streak of bringing in unbelievably talented and creative acts to their stage. Friday night’s sold out show exceeded expectation with opener Psychic Twin and Sylvan Esso.
Psychic Twin (photos by Holli Stephens)
Clad in all black, the three-piece lady synth group comprised of Erin Fein, Rosana Caban, and Whitney Broadstreet set the tone for the night. Their use of drum kit, synth, and keyboard back-ups behind Fein’s sometimes looped or distorted vocals created an environment of psychedelic electronic grooves. The group seemed to be in a state of shock from the enormous applause they received at the ends of their songs and humbly would say, “Wow. You guys are awesome,” accompanied by a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
The balcony, as well as floor area, was wall-to-wall with a wide diversity of energetic fans of all ages. The numbers only grew throughout Psychic Twin’s set and by the end, Union Transfer had been overtaken by people. I could feel the crowd as well as myself getting impatient during the intermission into Sylvan Esso and the familiar dimming of lights threw me into a state of relief and happiness.
Vocalist Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn were greeted by a sea of hands in the air and cries of excitement. Meath wore an all black ensemble with her signature platform sneakers that gave her at least four inches while Sanborn sported a t-shirt that read “Daddy’s Not Funny.” It would be their last show of their tour of East Coast cities before they headed out West and then internationally.
The duo had such an energy and spirit that put the audience into a musical trance and commanded everyone to dance. If you had ever listened to recorded material of their self-titled album you are certainly not getting the full experience. When Sanborn would really drop the beat after Meath had sung an intro to a song, flashes of different colored lights would illuminate behind him and he would periodically leave his deck and wave his arms around in pure conjunction with the music.
Accompanied by more than half of the audience, Sylvan Esso played through their debut self-titled album for the duration of the night. Songs included “Coffee”, “Hey Mami”, “H.S.K.T” and “Could I Be”. As the night came to a close and Sylvan Esso came back out to do an encore Meath teased, “Quick spoiler alert, we already played all of our party jams.” The duo played through a cover song of the artist Porches before slowing things down with another song from their album.
