Concert Review: Breanna Barbara Shows The Vulnerability Needed For Psych-Rock
It’s official; women rock! I’m actually thinking of starting a festival just for female rockers after seeing Breanna Barbara at Knitting Factory. When I first heard of Breanna Barbara it was in comparison to (my fave) Brittany Howard from the Alabama shakes.I was both excited and hesitant for Barbara’s concert because I was eager to see how they comparison reigned true but also how Barbara enacted the psychedelia of her rock songs in performance. Luckily she was excellent.
Standing front and center in a mod outfit with her jet black hair, Barbara immediately struck a sense of retro. When you go to a Breanna Barbara concert you are looking forward in time by looking at what has made history so great. This might sound like a strange idea because it is not like history has been written according to human achievements as much as its violence. Yet, in flashing back to the cultural staples that moved past generations of youth to be artistic, eccentric, and even daring, Breanna Barbara comes off like a time traveling songstress bringing music and auras that inspire people to get clear and confident about who they are. It’s natural to be moved by a woman owning her inner goddess, prowess, and altogether talent. When you see somebody dominate a room you can’t help but gravitate to him or her in wonder of how they do it. When Breanna screeches, scratches, and blazes her vocals chords like her throat was actually professional mixing-table, you are confounded by how she emotes her lyricism. They way she leaps through octaves, you think you are watching the coolest person on earth, to which rock n’ roll is all about “cool”.
Breanna’s voice feels the ever-molding lava in a lava lamp: it hypnotically changes its fumed form and color to give off a majestic sensibility. It is as if it is smoked and sizzled on a spiritual grill giving high-pitched crackles that sound like the grease of pain/passion is being pressed out of her from relationships/regrets such as in, “Nothing But Your Lovin”, and “Who Are You”. Is that too vivid an image? Well, she has a vivid voice that does will to contrast her nonchalant stage presence. She openly discusses the meanings behind songs, even if they are raw, and personal. It is as if she is telling her best friend (the audience) her day/ struggles to be happy. Between her music vocality and personal vulnerability, there is an spontaneous spark to Breanna that makes you feel like she can hang out with you and light a few cigs in deep conversation or run around with you and light a few cities on fire. The point is she lighting something in you that makes you either converse openly with friends or confront abrasively your enemies. Songs like “Sailin Sailin” bring about the forward, facing nature that people call their “ inner wildness”, but to Breanna its honesty, which is why she is perfect for psych-rock. Although this genre is about mindfulnes/mind-warps, it is also about seeing life’s abstractions for the truths they carry like in “Mirage Dreams”. Hence,Breanna shows the benefits of a live rock’n roll show by showing this genre is more than a music; its a mindset.
I firmly believe that rock n’ roll is a spirit that carries a culture, history, and mood that releases the disgruntles humanity tries to hide under “prim facades”. Barbara understands that, as well, and uses her facial expressions, her vocal plays, and even the way she effortlessly holds her guitar as she could riff it all day to exude the “No BS” that exemplifies true rock n’roll. For More Information On Breanna Barbara Click Here.
