Concert Review: The New Tarot Cast A Spell At Bowery Electric
We all believe there is more to this life, whether we like to admit or not. Usually, such a mentality is saved for scientific forums or religious discussions, but there are those that believe adding more labels to what makes humanity more than “just humanity” is what is inhibiting it from seeing its simple depth. Enter The New Tarot as a band aimed at finding its role in the universe by discovering it through music, particularly their upcoming album John D and the Book of Promises, which they played at Bowery Electric.
If you know The New Tarot, you know they are unabashed fans of the occult. Their love for magic and singular belief in the power of a blessing, something they give to the audience, is constantly present in their sound and casual conversation with the audience. While their previous albums had the bigness of the mysticism by adding tweaked and strained melodies, John D and the Book of Promises is their most forward attempt to draw upon the supernatural/spiritual within their songs. The entire album is a concept of which, by the end, John D and The Book of Promises will come off to listeners like an overarching soul quest that represents us all. The Walker siblings, who headline the band, brought up some of their classic songs like, “Tell Me You Like Me”, which helped draw a difference between where they have been and where they are going. If their prior music felt like amusing songs with thoughtful lyrics on inner turmoil, their upcoming album is a story that plays well in concert, in part, because Monika Walker is a natural-born story- teller.
Monika waves her hands, points her fingers at the audience, and presents her tracks like an incantation, which is perfect for songs like “The Heat”, “Name”, and “The Ruse”, which a carry “synthed” mystery. No matter what tempo, New Tarot arranges their chords to have a sweet creepiness to them, which matches their idea of searching for truth in life’s unknowns. Hence, Monika crouches, leaps, and morphs her voice to match the horrors and wonders she will lyrically find from “Kingdom” to “America” and makes them present in a crowd’s mind. The new material gives their concert a cinematic feel as if you are watching Monika musically act out a Tim Burton film. Her innate vibrancy as a performer does well with their more fantastical, new sound, which will make you feel like a gypsy is guiding you through your own twisted fairytale. Again, New Tarot’s banter with the audience helps to ease the electrifying tension and attraction to their new, darker songs. After all, New Tarot can go dark in its attempt find light, which is why much of their new material had chord progressions that are sporadic between dancing up-tempos and crawling down ones.
The album has yet to be released, but as a “preview”, their performance at Bowery Electric showed that their upcoming tour/ album will be their best because it is the most “them” they have ever been. The New Tarot performed with an excitement and adventurousness that made them free and almost curios to the audience who felt invigorates by their said joy. Moreover, it boosted their confidence in themselves and their trust of the crowd to draw them into a world they were, literally, building. Yes, their lyrics remain as reflective of humanity as ever, but, admittedly, their new music brings a “fun” to that reflection. What better than imagination to elevate one’s search for life’s meaning.For More Information On New Tarot Click Here.
