Lunafix

Dean And Britta March 29 At The Black Cat

Dean And Britta March 29 At The Black Cat
Matthew Stabley, DC Scene Writer


As expected, the Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips show at the Black Cat drew sort of a "we miss Luna" crowd. Dean and Britta themselves were happy to oblige.

From the get, Dean and Britta were reminiscent of Luna. Wareham's guitar at the beginning of "Singer Sing," the opener on the latest album as well as this set, sounded a lot like the intro to Luna's cover of Beat Happening's "Indian Summer." Dean's always been a fan of reinterpreting both hits and obscure songs, and the group dove right back in with the Troggs' "Our Love Will Still Be There" and French chanteuse Claudine Longet's "White Horses." On the latter, the group stretched out the song with some cool, mellow vibes. Supported by drummer and a couple of multi-instrumentalists, the couple had a group with them to attempt the ol' sounds but didn't quite approach that Luna/500 thing -- yet.

"Hear the Wind Blow" from the first Dean and Britta record, "L'Avventura," and the new "Words You Used To Say" started to mount that familiar, though more mellow, Wareham feel, and then the man obliged his fans with "Moon Palace," from Luna's 1995 LP "Penthouse." That earned the biggest response from the crowd thus far and lifted some tension. Yes, Dean and Britta would indulge us with some of the dreamy classics from their previous band -- "Chinatown" and "Tiger Lily" -- and even surprise us with the old Galaxie 500 song "Strange."

But the set wasn't simply a nod to the past. That nod was a necessary relief for a bunch of Lunaphiles. Even the old music was played through the poppier, mellower, adult contemporary-leaning of Wareham's latest project. But it's still heroin pop. It still has Wareham's dreamy Lou Reed-versus-shoegazer guitar. And it's just outside enough to keep it away from the radio dial. The instrumentation was elaborate but sparse, a quiet wall of sound. It only first reached a full rock band sound midway into the set on "Knives From Bavaria."

A couple of songs from the new album were the standouts. The original ballad "The Sun Is Still Sunny" was both warm and forlorn -- cool and springtime sunny as its name, yet downbeat at the same time. Here, Britta's breathless, syrupy voice was at its finest, a warm juxtaposition to Dean's downbeat slacker tenor. The Lee Hazelwood gem "You Turn My Head Around" bounced a bit more but was quieter -- just a little bit of lethargy keeps it from being an audition for pop stardom.

After the couple opened the Luna can, their version of the Serge Gainsbourg/Briggite Bardot song "Bonnie and Clyde" -- recorded with Stereolab's Laetitia Sadler for "Penthouse" and a live Luna standard from the day Britta joined the band -- was expected. Dean and Britta closed with it. Again, it was a more subdued interpretation, keeping pace with the rest of the set, but the tempered approach added more drama to the tale. Following the path of the set, Dean and Britta encored with one of their best songs, the subdued-yet-lush dance groove "Ginger Snaps" -- and another Luna essential, "Bewitched."

Eventually, maybe, Luna fans will get over the breakup and accept Dean and Britta for their new music alone -- it is worth it -- but for now, we still want to hang on to the good ol' days. Thanks to Dean and Britta for understanding.
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