When art-pop duo, The Blow, released Paper Television in 2006, it was a refreshingly unromantic compilation of love songs crowded with flirtatious snaps and staccato keyboard riffs carrying lyrics that dissected relationships by comparing love to things like the human digestive process instead of anything idealistic or grand.That was back when lead singer, Khaela Maricich, was working with Jona Bechtolt - before he took his mastery of bursting-at-the-seams electro-pop construction to YACHT.
Now, Maricich performs on stage completely alone. Completely alone - no backing vocalists or band or even the smallest of stage props.
As a solo act, Maricich's neurotic sense of humor is as strong and endearing as ever. Her animated expressions and quirky dancing had the mostly-lesbian crowd in chuckles during "Hey Boy". She looked like a dorky teen movie character who is desperately trying to seem sexy and live out her video-vixen dream, but comes across as spazzy and adorably awkward.
At times, the show felt like one of those comedy specials where the comedian incorporates humorous songs into their carefully timed, carefully scripted act. If Stephen Lynch and Woody Allen had an indie musician baby girl, it would be Maricich.
Half of the songs from the show came from an ostensibly random side project in which Maricich claimed to have collaborated with a "very famous" girl who "wasn't gay but had a girlfriend and it was all over the tabloids". She never explicitly said it was Lindsay Lohan, but it was obvious, with Maricich adding, "You totally know who this girl is... but you probably don't listen to her music."
The premise of the project was that Lohan had been a fan of The Blow, and would even perform "Parentheses" to her girlfriend, Samantha Ronson (a performance that Maricich re-enacted with lots of exaggerated hair tousling and playful attempts at smoldering bedroom-eyes). Maricich donned a pair of glittery platforms and asked, "Do I look like a world famous lesbian?" before singing a song called "Make It Up" (with lyrics that Lohan had allegedly written) about having a love with no precedent so that the two lovers are forced to make up the rules as they go along.
Even with an easy sense of humor, Maricich may have looked fairly ridiculous while trying to resemble a pop star playing up her breathy vocals and minxish vulnerability - but if Lohan herself were alone on stage she would have looked utterly sad and even more disastrous than usual.
It's hard to tell how much of the Lohan collaboration story or the performance is just shtick. It didn't feel like a concert. Maricich's twitchy silliness was sweet, but I paid $12 to go to Local 506 and hear live music, and left disappointed.
There was also an opening band called T-kette... The girls were wearing cute outfits... that's all I'm going to say.
Author's Note: I apologize for the shitty quality of the picture. I drunkenly lost my camera during an epic Spring Fling party at a friend's house a few months ago, and have been forced to use my iPhone ever since. If anyone in Carrboro finds a hot pink Sony camera with a blurry screen (from being dropped into a Blue Cup during college. Whatever, it still works) it would be really awesome of you to get that back to me. Thanks.
