By: Christian Power, Contributor
Athens, with its flourishing music scene and
abundant college population, is home to many singer-songwriters. On Friday
night, Donkey Coffee was fortunate enough to host two of the town's finest.
Accompanied on stage by a multi-hued cardboard donkey that was only kind of
creepy, Sotto Voce (Ryan Gabos) and Peter Vilardi carried out some impressive
performances.
The two friends have long been involved with
performance art on campus. In addition to their musical ventures, Vilardi and
Gabos have integral roles on the sketch-comedy series "Fridays Live!"
and often deliver stand-up with Blue Pencil Comedy. It was very apparent that
both felt at home on stage.
Vilardi served as the opening act, taking to
the piano to play seven original songs, along with a cover of "Life in a
Glasshouse" by Radiohead. After getting the audience's attention with the
vocal-showcasing "Your Grace," he busted out the addictively catchy
"Call It a Day," which was without a doubt a highlight of the night.
Not one to forgo his comedic talent, Vilardi
wowed the crowd with the hilarious "Misdirection," a song driven by
its spoken-word interludes that explain a commonly used joke format in
stand-up. That's about as well as it can be summed up in words--it is an
absolute must to hear performed live. Before introducing the Yorke-composed
number, Vilardi insisted, "It's not that depressing. Just kidding, it's
very depressing."
He co-wrote his final song of the night,
"Off We Go," with artist Matt Munhall. Munhall will be releasing a
full-length album recorded in Nashville called 700 Miles on May 6. "Off We Go" indeed reflected the
professional-grade nature of Vilardi's growing singer-songwriter discography.
Sotto Voce then successfully satisfied the
challenge of following up who he describes as "the best showman in
Athens."
Playing a set of entirely original acoustic
material along with a closing piano instrumental, Sotto Voce flawlessly
executed a raw style of rapid picking and energized strumming in addition to
some superb slower numbers. The rapid picking was prominently displayed on
opening song "Reticent." Sotto Voce explained its origins, saying he
wrote it on move-in day freshman year before his roommates arrived while
imagining how great college would be.
Wikipedia tells me that Sotto Voce means to
"lower the volume of one's voice for emphasis." However, the vocal
performance throughout the eight songs was marked by a notable ability to
prevail throughout the room. Put simply, the guy can sing.
After Vilardi returned on stage to provide
supplemental vocals on "How Romantic?," Sotto Voce whipped out what
he dubbed the sing-along song of the night and setlist staple, "Same
Ghost," a shout-out to now-graduated friend and fellow artist Jared Henderson. It of course went over
well with the engaged crowd, whose clapping hands and stomping feet joined well
with the collective singing.
Gabos was originally scheduled to be
supported by a different performer, but had to find someone else on short
notice. I spoke to Vilardi after the show, who said he was humbled to be
selected. In the same manner that Sotto Voce played alongside Same Ghost (Jared
Henderson), Vilardi feels that he is accompanying Gabos in a way that will
encourage their house party lineage to continue.
I asked him how he was able to prepare so
easily, and Vilardi said it wasn't a challenge at all. As someone who can play
many instruments (and raps under the name MC Freeman), he was excited by the opportunity
to play an all-piano set. Influenced primarily by musicians like
Chris Martin and Bono (but ultimately by too many artists to count), expressing
himself in this fashion was something he looked forward to doing.
I was again beyond impressed at how well-written the songs by these gentlemen were. It was a great time to see
these two perform and I hope they do it again soon.
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