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C'mon baby, let's do the Tryst
Tryst takes its witty and yet sentimental pop sound on the road to Europe, but not before a farewell gig for its New York fans.
By FRANK VIGORITO
Offoffoff.com
Music lovers on the prowl should get to know Tryst, a band whose music reveals a secret rendezvous of witty and sentimental pop, before they leave town. After the band's next round of downtown gigs in New York — catch the first at Arlene Grocery this Thursday — it's off to Europe and gay Paris, for a year of touring, remixing and promotion. Armed with a batch of new tunes and a solid list of crowd favorites, trust Tryst to deliver a solid set list that stands out in the crowded downtown lineups we've all come to love. A foursome whose recipe consists of freshly intelligent, narrative lyrics sung over solid, infectious pop tunes punctuated by a deliciously sweet hand at guitar, Tryst has a beguiling sound that makes you feel a part of the secret love.
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Tim Cohan
Ellen Highstone
Sam McIlvain
Elisa Chiusano.
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According to songwriter Tim Cohan, "Starting a band is a lot like having an affair. It's risky and illicit; you wear tight clothes and hang out in bars." What may have started as a small affair has developed into an ambitious musical team with the chops to back it up. Cohan pens songs that begin with a small set of vivid images and a quickly defined melody, allowing Tryst's songs to unfold into a well-built, dynamic framework of guitar, rhythm, vocal harmony and a catchy chorus for window dressing. In one of their earliest singles, "Spain," a mental road trip for the bored soul, Cohan's intro lays it all out: "We'll get out of this lonely town, down across the plains / I know it's Minnesota, but it feels like Spain."
As the songs continue, like an old friend sitting in the couch seat next to you, a guitar solo by Sam McIlvain will step out into the spotlight to give a quick sonic rubdown, and then melt back into the furniture. Tim Cohan's strong lead vocals find just the right balance of lounge-inspired irony and excited storyteller jive to seduce listeners into tunes like the jazz-infused show-stopper "Snake and Monkey." In two new and noteworthy hard-driving numbers, "Kids of Big Stars" and "Heavy and Wide," Cohan's vocals also reveal an emerging bite. Ellen Highstone's supporting vocals have a certain nonchalance (think Astrud Gilberto as a long-legged rockstar) when creating harmonies in songs like "Boy Thing" (where her vocals are featured) and "Spain" that surround the listener in a sexy aural perfume wafting up from the periphery. The resulting sound bounces, swivels and tangos around the room while toes tap and heads bob along with Elisa Chiusano's steady drumbeats.
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Tryst began as an acoustic trio across the pond in France when Highstone and Cohan began playing gigs in coffeehouses and cabaret nightclubs with lead guitarist McIlvain. Chiusano, a hard-hitting drummer from Philly, is the most recent addition to the outfit. This Thursday's Arlene Grocery gig will be their first full-length set featuring songs from the new album, tentatively titled "The Road to Fontainebleau," a follow-up to the intriguing self-titled CD affectionately known as "The Northern Pimp" (check out the cover photo). Like their strong following at the C-Note, new fans looking for more than the pop equivalent of a quickie in the bathroom will enjoy their first Tryst and want to come back for more.
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MAY 15, 2001
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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