Athens, Georgia band Nana Grizol will celebrate RUTH in Queens on June 4
Silent Barn
915 Wyckoff Ave. at Weirfield
Ridgefield, Queens
Friday, June 4, $7, 9:00
www.myspace.com/nanagrizol
www.facebook.com/silentbarn
Coming out of the Elephant 6 collective, Nana Grizol is pretty much just what they advertise on their MySpace page: “a bunch of friends having a whole lot of fun making the music they love with each other.” The brainchild of Theo Hilton, the Athens, Georgia, band has recently released its sophomore disc, the engaging, infectious RUTH (Orange Twin, January 2010), the follow-up to their DIY 2008 debut, LOVE IT, LOVE IT. “Cynicism isn’t wisdom / It’s a lazy way to say that you’ve been burned / It seems, if anything / you’d be less certain after everything you ever learned,” Hilton sings in the album opener, “Cynicism,” but there’s little that’s cynical about Nana Grizol. Heck, several of the members even run a 155-acre conservation community that’s seeking self-sustainability. Composed of a changing roster of musicians from such bands as Neutral Milk Hotel, Hot New Mexicans, the Music Tapes, and Elf Power (with whom they run Orange Twin Records), Nana Grizol is like the Hold Steady without the Springsteenian bombast, Arcade Fire without the orchestral pomposity. Hilton writes poetic, personal lyrics about the beauty of love, the inevitability of death, and sleep filled with dreams on such folk-punk gems as “Blackbox,” Gave On,” “For Things That Haven’t Come Yet,” and “Sands.” Jared Gandy, Robbie Cucchiaro, Matte Cathcart, Laura Carter, and Patrick Jennings are among those who add often unique and unusual instrumentation, taking the songs into another dimension. “The best trapeze artists perform with no nets / No one ever won a jackpot on a gentleman’s bet / Yeah, you wake up from your best dream just to find your bed wet / What life ever comes without a hint of regret?” Hilton asks on “Grady and Dubose.” You’re likely to regret it if you don’t catch Nana Grizol tonight at the Silent Barn in Queens, with DJ Bees Knees, What Cheer? Brigade, Greg Mullen, and the Eskalators.