“This song,” he said, “is about finding your compass.”
Two weeks ago, Rodgers received a Facebook message from his younger sister, from whom he had been estranged for 30 years. She wanted to see him, to be a greater part of his life. Why didn’t they reunite at a gig he was having at this new music venue? he suggested.
He had rediscovered a kind of human compass, and it was pointing straight at the moment before him.
Lucy Gellman Photo
After last week’s grand opening and packed inaugural performance, College Street Music Hall staff members and producers are finding their compasses too, and running full steam ahead into a music-filled summer. Saturday night that meant welcoming over 1,500 into the space for a bill that included Hamden – born and bred Mighty Purple, hipster magnet Mates of State, and Polaris, perhaps best known for its quirky, well-loved soundtrack to “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” in the 1990s.
If show promoter Mark Nussbaum has a Google spreadsheet for “eclectic and effective tributes to the lyrical” in his head, this kind of lineup is testament to it. Joined by Jessy Griz on vocals and the ever-soulful Adam Christoferson on percussion, the Rodgers brothers kicked off the evening with a kind of indie-pop meets hard-edged folk that was at once profound and buoyant. While Steve’s voice has perfectly placed shards of tin set in it permanently, Jon’s boasts a built-in echo that slips neatly over the precision and rocky nod of his guitar. And boy, is he is a monster on the guitar (and the harmonica, for that matter). His solos, as deeply awaited as they were applauded, remained a thing of beauty: his fingers went to town without pause, his whole frame bending into the music while a legion of twenty-something rock musicians — many his former students — watched, completely enchanted, from the front of the house.
Meshed with deep, echoey vocals that climb up to your brain through the ribcage and neck, their lyrics struck the audience as smart and seamless; when they played tunes like “Brother” or “Oh Captain,” the future felt immediate and certain.
Mates of State, to the contrary, puts everything in a gently running vocal Vitamix, turns on a synthesizer, and presses play. There’s a sprinkling of rock here, a dash of disco there, and lots of poppy layers that manage to stay refreshing for an entire set. Brought alive Saturday night, husband and wife team Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel was purely electric, drawing a throng of sweaty, smiling bodies to the stage as the two sang out “I’ve been waiting for a sign / I’ve been waiting for a sign / to tell me where / where I belong.”
A big part of that was their accompaniment by John Panos on trumpet. Panos comes off as effortlessly cool, and deeply dedicated to his craft.
Saturday, he brought a brassy welcome to the theater, adding a throaty and vibrating element to songs like “Now” and “My Only Offer.”
Which left room, naturally, for Polaris, one last kind of indie-rock voice in the theater. Local musician Jon Stone has mentioned a 1950s rock fetishism in New Haven a couple of times, and songs like “Ivy Boy” married it to the ‘80s college-rock feel of Miracle Legion, the New Haven group from which Polaris was formed. Best known for songs about the clumsy idiosyncrasies of growing up, Polaris embodied its music in a way that was gorgeously meta. Lyrics were sharp and danceable with an old, but never fatigued, feel. At the front of an increasingly packed house, an eclectic crowd gathered, bound by these danceable melodies, to jam the night away.
Which, having found their compasses, is exactly what they did.