Aaron Hartman and Alicia Jo Robins of Girls in Trouble celebrate Shavuot and more in two free local gigs
Friday, May 7, Café Orwell, 247 Varet St., free, 7:00
Wednesday, May 19, Sidewalk Café, 94 Ave. A at Sixth St., free (two-drink minimum), 10:00
www.myspace.com/girlsintroublemusic
www.sidewalkmusic.net
Girls in Trouble is a band that started out as a musical project of fiddle player and composer Alicia Jo Rabins, who was intrigued by the idea of writing songs about — or from the perspective of — the women characters from the Old Testament. Elsewhere a member of klezmer mainstays Golem and old-time revivalists the Hoppin’ John Stringband, Rabins has crafted an album’s worth of tunes following these stories and has been bringing them to life in performance over the past three years. But fear not; this isn’t music for theologians only. Here, the songs are everything, the mood shifting from sultry to impassioned to festive to macabre, sometimes within the bounds of a single composition. In a live setting, Girls in Trouble can variously feature the songs as either interpreted by a four-piece band (including Jascha Hoffman on keyboards, vibraphone, and accordion, Tim Monaghan on drums, Aaron Hartman on upright bass, and other delights); in fiddle/guitar duet guise with Hartman; or even with the becoming Ms. Rabins occasionally performing to the simple accompaniment of her own voice layered with prepared tape loops of acoustic strings.
No matter the instrumental accoutrements, the haunting stories that unfold make for an interesting and rewarding evening of listening. Girls in Trouble will be at Café Orwell in Brooklyn on May 7, followed by a gig on May 19 at the Sidewalk Café, playing their self-described “post-biblical art pop” on the Jewish holy day of Shavuot — the day when tradition maintains that Moses was given the Torah atop Mt. Sinai. Expect an intimate evening of unique music.