All Asians have nimble fingers. They enable us to skillfully play a musical instrument (in most cases, the piano or violin) and are a direct factor in our excellent math skills--our little fingers can dance around a calculator faster than you can say "soy sauce." And Chris Chu confirmed this accurate stereotype (as all stereotypes tend to be) when his fingers slid up and down a guitar that was almost as big as he was.
(I caught those fingers in action in the vid below).Chu's nimble fingers and the rest of the morning benders put on a great show Friday night (3/12/10), playing songs from their new album, BIG ECHO, which hit the shelves just three days before they hit the Local 506. And despite my apprehensions, it was a great show. I mean, let's be honest, the Phil Spector-inspired Excuses performance is a hard one to follow. But the New York-based San Francisco band brought heartfelt chamber-pop of the 60s to Chapel Hill. And even without the dreamy violins and a large choir of friends, the five-piece band was still able to recreate the essence of a "wall of sound" during their delightful closing performance of Excuses. With the help of a loop pedal, Chu's a capella "bah-da-da-da-dums" and the audience (who were singing along at this point) as a stand-in for the choir, they filled the 506 with wonderfully charming music you can't help but sway to, and came pretty darn close to the Yours Truly video. It was pretty magical.
iTunes awarded BIG ECHO the "Indie Spotlight" this week, which means you can get the album for $7.99 and a bonus track free. What a bargain. Get it here.
"Promises"
