Indie Obsessive: Young Tongue in San Francisco

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Young Tongue in San Francisco – A Concert Review

The song “Heavy Metal Thunder” changed my life! Ok, not in the same way that finding a new love interest or starting a new job changes the life of a person. But it isn’t Internet hyperbole to state that the song had a positive effect on my life.

If not for the song “Heavy Metal Thunder,” we would have spent last night watching another Monday Night Football game. Instead, we took advantage of the opportunity to see the song performed at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. So, the song by Young Tongue got us out of the living room and into a setting that was more interesting and rewarding. While we’re not ready to argue that the song was life-altering in a macro sense, it was in the one-evening micro sense.

There was some concern that Young Tongue couldn’t replicate the vocal layering of the final thirty seconds in “Heavy Metal Thunder.” Even without those thirty seconds, the song is a “keeper.” But it’s that half minute that sets it apart from others we enjoy. Young Tongue delivered the layering. In fact, the mixing of the vocals of the husband-and-wife members (Stuart and Liz Baker) was better than in the recorded version, since Liz’s lyrics were less muffled (the lyrics are included below).

Another feature of “Heavy Metal Thunder” that was well executed last night was the cooperative arrangement of the bass (Nathan Ribner) and the two guitars (Travis Larrew and Stuart Baker). And we loved the changes in the rhythmic flow of syllables – as an example, listen to the slow pronunciation of “The hour glass is,” followed by the quick paced “reminding me she should try it again.” And the band often had multiple members contributing to the percussion (led by Darryl Schomberg II) – with the favorite percussion instrument being the beer keg that was at center stage.