Karen Ponzio Photos
TEEN
As she took some time to tune her guitar between songs, Danielle Capalbo of daniprobably told the audience Monday night at Cafe Nine, “TEEN is so great and they’re really fun. We are all going to figure this out together.” She received a few shouts of yes right back at her from the crowd.
Since last performing at one of the club’s Manic Monday shows, daniprobably has gone from a solo act to a duo with the addition of Adam Bensen on drums as well as bass through a vocal mic. Capalbo said that, thanks to performing together since fall 2018, Bensen has “elevated the way I think about the songs,” adding that she is “rethinking songs because now there’s another way to arrange them.”
“The bass is the soul of the song,” she said, “and he gets to be his own rhythm section. It’s very cool.” The two are recording an EP currently and Bensen is doing the recording for them. Their first single, “Suffering,” was released this past month.
“He’s a problem solver too, which I love,” said Capalbo. “He’s always like, ‘I got this,’ which helps, plus playing with him is just super fun.”
The two appeared to be having all the fun as they opened the show with a nine-song set with a few breaks only to tune and adjust pedals, as well as have a few quick exchanges and smiles between them. Capalbo’s songs did indeed achieve another level with Bensen, as if their heartbeats had received a jolt of electricity. Capalbo’s voice continues to add to and even transcend the music without competing with it, each song an impassioned and powerful moment in time with gritty yet gorgeous guitar solos and steady serious beats. She created an intimate yet rock-operatic mood, as if telling us a story that could be all of our stories, but at the same time never losing her distinct personality and never letting us forget that the music was there to enjoy and have fun with.
The fun continued when TEEN arrived onstage with nearly all the houselights down and the band’s own multicolored floor lights illuminating their set. Sisters Teeny and Lizzie Lieberson coordinated their stage moves as well as their harmonies throughout their own nine-song set to pulse pounding numbers like “Runner” and softer ones like “Pretend.” The three-piece band from New York wasted little time between songs and kept the music steady and sweet, alternating between ballads and super-danceable bangers, many from the band’s most recent release, Good Fruit. Slipping in and out of genres and eras easily — at one point synth delicious and pop pretty, and at another downright hard and kind of funky, the trio created a soundscape that had many bopping along (including this reporter) throughout the night. Lizzie and Teeny even brought out a large piece of toile-like material and performed a mesmerizing song sans instruments while wrapping themselves up in it in various ways, finally ending up kneeling on the floor of the stage, heads together and smiling. The audience loved it, exploding into cheers and applause.
After the show, two audience members with huge smiles on their faces ran up to the merchandise table where TEEN was standing.
“Thank you,” one of them exclaimed. “That was so much fun.”
TEEN continues its tour through May. More info can be found on their website. daniprobably’s next show is May 18th at Willimantic Records.