Karen Ponzio Photos
Arms Like Roses
Mondays have a reputation for being a difficult day to enjoy anything, but this Monday at Cafe Nine you could get a heavy dose of pulse-pounding music to reenergize you for the week ahead. The three bands that made that happen last night were New Haven’s own Arms Like Roses and two Boston-based acts, Women in Peril and Cameron Lane.
The intimate crowd was treated to three sets of rippers with heart, the kind of music that makes you want to dive into your phone and look up the bands online so you can spend quality time with each of their discographies (after the show is over, of course).
First to the stage — playing its first show ever in Connecticut — was Women in Peril, a five-piece band made up of Chase Lipman on lead vocals and guitar, Soraya Rafat on guitar, Kalika Reese on trombone, Jaxon Lane on bass, and Daisy Soper on drums. Leading with two songs off their new EP Can I Hold You, Lipman’s vocals harmonized with Reese’s horn and held a contrast to the hard beats surrounding them. The third song from the EP — the band’s first single, titled “3 Days (With This Dog and You Still Aren’t Gonna Give Me a Cigarette)” — Rafat said was “a long title but it’s based on a true story.”
Lipman sang “It’s so dumb now, it’s stupid, I’m trying to fight it but it’s useless,” and it was difficult to fight how both catchy and complex the band’s offerings were. Women in Peril kept rocking out through three more songs and ended with another selection from their EP titled “2048” that cemented a kinship with bands like the Cranberries. The song had a hard rock candy sweetness charged with the edginess and emotions of both hopefulness and heartbreak.
Drummer Soper remained on stage to be part of Cameron Lane’s band, along with Lane herself on vocals and guitar, Ashleigh Wolf on lead guitar, and Sam Anderson on bass. Noting that this was also the act’s first time playing in Connecticut, Lane offered songs old and new, including one off her first EP that she noted was released in her senior year of high school.
“When I play it, I feel like I’m 16 again,” she said with a laugh. Listening to her and her band in a way gave that rush of discovering a band in high school that you get super excited about, with emotional lyrics delivered with passion and precision.
“I let my guard down for you for the last time,” she repeated over and over in one song, until it became a primal scream punctuated by a cacophony of sound. The song ended with that same repeated line becoming became softer and softer, offering peacefulness amidst the angst.
Then there was a “super, super new one” that had Lane asking the audience “does anyone in the room here have a sister?” She received affirmations and even a couple of moans in response, to which she answered “this song is for that sister and you.” The band ended with its latest single “Skateboard,” which Lane said was a true story of “how I accidentally stole someone’s skateboard.”
“It’s an extended metaphor for overthinking,” she added with a smile, leaving the audience smiling and cheering as well after this fun and fierce set.
“Since there’s not a lot of people here, come get closer to us,” said drummer and vocalist Thomas Shreve of Arms Like Roses, as that band began the final set of the evening. The band gave that small but mighty crowd a ripper of a set that combined a multitude of riffs, thrashing bass and vocals, thoughtful lyrics, light-up sneakers, and lots of smiles.
It may as well have been a Friday with the hardcore energy the band brought to the room. Arms Like Roses played older songs as well as selections from its latest release Blooming — including “Tom’s Song,” which Shreve said he wrote while living in the basement of a fraternity, also noting that he never was in a fraternity. That statement garnered laughs, but the song itself saw him and Estelle Angel harmonizing about love and pain and loss, singing “I know that one day when you’re gone, I’m gonna miss this.” For the fortunate who were able to partake on such a night, it’s nice to know there are still places where we can find music on a Monday night that makes us all come together to discover something new and connect with others eager to do the same — while also having a banger of a good time.