Sam Meister and Nicole Barille are Mr. Gnome.
Mr. Gnome
9 p.m., Oct. 1. Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven.
$5. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com.
Nicole
Barille and Sam Meister know the value of surprise. When the
Clevelanders work together underneath the moniker of Mr. Gnome, the
concept of contrast gives their dusky indie/punk/art rock mesh a
striking sensibility.
Leading
most Gnome compositions is Barille’s voice, a feminine thing that can
leap from a breathy, wounded wisp to a smoldering shout to a commanding
bark. The fluctuations are jarring and often unexpectedly lively.
Similarly, when songs move from echoing, stark vocals to impenetrable
blasts of distortion (produced by Barille’s guitar) and fits of
percussion (made by Meister at the drums) and back again to vocals, the
changes feel weighty. Through much of their 2008 disc Deliver This Creature (El Marko Records), zigzagging gives Mr. Gnome’s sound unfamiliar thrills.
Appropriately, Mr. Gnome was founded on a tenet of contrast.
“We always started with that soft/loud dynamic,” recalls Barille in a recent phone conversation.
Inspired
by surrealism, abstract art, psychedelic rock and experimental
inclinations of the likes of Portishead and Tool, the tandem
immediately decided they would venture into any corner they found
interesting.
“We always liked heavy stuff and pretty, ethereal stuff, too,” she notes. “We never tried to limit ourselves.”
Barille
has an innate interest in songwriting. She emphasizes the group’s
composing is grounded in an organic approach. Tracks emerge from guitar
riffs or simple melodies rather than full concepts. While tinkering,
they end up getting comfortable with a song.
“[When]
you spend so much time with the songs, it starts becoming natural to
know where you want them to go,” she says. “I usually think the songs
that come out best are the ones that we don’t have to tweak as much. We
always try to make everything natural.”
The only problem with following your instincts is that imagination can often take you in odd directions.
For example, when putting together November’s Heave Yer Skeleton, the act shelved 10 compositions. “We
started messing around with more of a psychedelic sound and there were
songs that just weren’t stopping,” says Barille with a laugh. “They
were 10-minute-long songs. They are cool when you are creating. Then,
you step back and you’re like, ‘I don’t know. This is ridiculously long
and has 10 different movements!’”
When
Mr. Gnome laid down its new album at L.A.’s Pink Duck Studios (the
recording headquarters of Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme),
the duo dealt with more creative over-stimulation.
“The
amount of equipment they had was outrageous,” Barille says. “You almost
had to limit yourself to what you started working with because you had
500 amps to choose from.”
Incorporating hollow body guitar, unfamiliar pedals and vintage amplifiers, the band hopes to give Heave “more of a classic feel than the last record.”
No
matter how they alter their aesthetic, Mr. Gnome will have to
frequently contend with comparisons to other male-female combinations.
Barille can deal with that.
“I
don’t think we sound like The White Stripes even though that’s the one
people always pull out just because that’s the most famous male-female
duo.” (Truth be told, their enterprising tendencies make The Dresden
Dolls a stronger reference point.) “We don’t try to limit ourselves
just because there are two of us,” she says, “but I’m sure that comes
across because, y’know, there are only two of us.”
http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14752