Alessandro Powell Photo
Elison Jackson.
By the time Elison Jackson took the stage at Cafe Nine on Saturday, the crowd had reached near capacity. The evening should have been the night of a thousand shows, with abundant musical offerings from Three Sheets to Best Video. The winter’s first snowstorm forced a lot of cancellations elsewhere. But at Cafe Nine the Saturday night crowd, perhaps rallying from the other closed venues, filled with faces new and familiar as the snow piled up outside the windows.
Elison Jackson’s fans sang the lyrics along with the band as the musicians — some now based in Philadephia and others in New Haven — found their groove. “It may be cold outside, but it’s hot in here,” said frontman Sam Perduta, dressed in what might be his Sunday best under the venue’s hot stage lights.
Self-described “stoner soul”, Elison Jackson plays a style of folk punk that is heavy on the folk — garage rock that can incite ballroom dancing instead of moshing.
Greg Perault’s dexterous bass and backup vocals grounded Matt Belliveau’s sly guitar. On the drums, Mark Sev kept the audience’s feet moving despite their heavy winter boots. The band’s upbeat songs occasionally gave way to bluesier numbers, sounding like the Black Keys rocking out in a big red barn.
TOYZ, also based in New Haven and Philadelphia, opened for Elison Jackson. Justin Courtney Roberts (formerly of Fake Babies) used a toy megaphone he borrowed from his friend, as he explained water damage had recently decommissioned his usual megaphone.
TOYZ played a particularly raw form of pop. Yet a romantic edge sliced through all the distortion — even the toy megaphone. Even if the megaphone sometimes masked the lyrics, the noise-rock ballads captivated the audience.
Roberts has done TOYZ as a solo act supplemented with a drum machine or the odd keyboard. Lately, he has been working on putting together a band for shows. Saturday saw him reunited with old friends from his New Haven days. They had a good time up there and the fun was contagious.
The New Haven-based Laundry Day closed out the show with a set of songs that continue to resonate with New Haven’s eager ears. The band was tight across the board, but frontman Alex Burnet’s lyrics really helped the songs stand out. Whereas Elison Jackson favored relatively intricate solos and arrangements, Laundry Day thrived on catchy, paired down numbers. No matter the speed, the musicians played with real momentum. Even before the lyrics kicked in, with their frequent references to the Elm City, their sound triggers a subtle nostalgia in anyone who grew up in the area. Laundry Day caught onto the zeitgeist of today’s New Haven, captivating local audiences as the band’s sound continues to evolve.