Concert Review: The Duhks @ Joe's Pub in NYC, 09/09

Written by our New York City Concert Critic: Joshua Williams


HAUTE MUSIQUE
The Duhks
Live at Joe's Pub in New York City

Sarah Dugas opens The Duhks' rafter-splinting set with a deep expansive vocal that quickly shifts into high gear (and high range). Her voice wraps around the meter-bending rhythmic groove of the drummer (her brother Christian Dugas) and finds melody in the lush harmonies of the fiddle (Tania Elizabeth), guitar (Jordan McConnell) and banjo (founder Leonard Podolak). The intricacies of the music, and there are many, in the hands of lesser-talented musicians could easily turn overwrought and heavy-handed. The Duhks manage to make these intricacies sound easy and what's more completely spontaneous. A clear example of this was in their second song, a factory-inspired soundscape reminiscent of Bjork's Dancer in the Dark. The song reached its climax when it broke free from its' "mechanical" underpinnings into what can only be described as a mad-Burlesque with heart--a modern Piaf moment thanks to Dugas. The band then switches metaphorical gears into an instrumental Irish sea shanty. This takes The Duhks' back to their roots, pure folk and bluegrass, and really more in line with what you experience from listening to their albums. But it's live music where the Duhks excel and in this live setting a simple folk tune magically morphs into improvisational afro-carribean rhythms combined with vocalizations more expected on the Ganges River than the Bayou. 

By the time they hit stride with an all-out zydeco beat,"Kakalaka," most jaded New Yorkers in the audience were out of their chairs (and their dinners) dancing in Joe's Pub's super-serious-artsy aisles. The set ended with a the title track of The Duhks new album, Fast Paced World. Dugas bemoans a world full of cookie-cutter houses, singing, "We don't have to think anymore." If by chance you listen to the radio these days, they've hit the nail on the head when it comes to music. Latter-day pop acts are so smartly packaged that there is very little soul left. The Duhks have soul in spades and a heart beat that pulses more true than an Ibiza night club. A night spent with The Duhks is summed up best by their own encore, "HALLELUJAH!" Hallelujah indeed.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the opening act, Luke Doucet. Also hailing from Winnepeg, Doucet's quartet was a tight set of original classic blues and rock & roll twang. Doucet proved as nimble on the guitar as he is with his lyrics: "You've got to have a heart to have a broken one." Certainly a band to watch out for.