by: Michael Eck
The songs of 10,000 Maniacs build up like paintings stretching brittle colors over a cool wash of streaming guitar swells, acoustic shimmers, and whispering vocal incantations.
The incessant, heady symbolism of vocalist/lyricist Natalie Merchant shines bastardized in context by the gently rushing spirit of the music, creating a paradoxical warmth rooted in the child-like release of her somber visions.
Merchant's sickly sweet, fathoms-deep images read like poetry without affecting the scabrous vision of the last true rock poetess, Patti Smith. Both her voice and music behind her will be on hand at J.B.'s Theatre, at 8 p.m. Sunday.
There is a detached dreamish wonderment in their style, whether in the tenuous fingers of calm in My Mother the War, only to be scorched by confident braziers of steely-sharp guitar, or in the speeding optimism train of Scorpio Rising. It is not a detachment born of fear but rather from Merchant's young-eyed, and occasionally over-intellectualized, search for a gleaming lost innocence and a truth that may never have existed.
Often enough vividly anti-war, the ideas behind their songs latch onto history and the escape hinge of the 19th century romanticism. Band member John Lombardo feels, "in some ways the obscurity of some of our themes may be a drawback but by the same token I don't think we would have gotten where we are without that ... (implying the charming lure of Merchant's folksy musings)... I think one of the things we communicate well is the fact that we really believe in what we're doing and believe in what we're saying and I think that that seems to be a disappearing quality lately."
For all her undertstated power as a wordsmith and her ringing vocal tone, much more confident now than before, Merchant would still be a sitting room recitalist if not for the responsive hands behind her. Lombardo, bemoaning the fact that "there's no longer such a thing as a rhythm guitarist" is, yes, the rhythm guitarist and also composes the bulk of the group's music. Joining him in tasteful sonic conversations are keyboardist (which in this case thankfully means piano and organ) Dennis Drew, bassist Stephen Gustafson, drummer Jerry Augustyniak, and guitarist Robert Buck. Buck is as much a texturalist as anything, employing a confusing number of devices to constantly alter his tone; not for flash but for comment. The head-scratching array of sounds he generates can approximate a violin glissandi, a seagull's cry, or a regretful bomb.
The favored sons and battered bride of Jamestown, New York, the Maniacs record for Elektra and their debut album for them, The Wishing Chair, drew a lot of pen praise but not equal sales. "We're hoping the second one is heard by more people (but) the critical praise has been flattering," Lombardo said.
Of their second ablum, which Elektra means to make more radio accessible, Lombardo states, "It's in the thought stage at the moment. It is going to be a little punchier and a little bit thicker ... without altering our themes or altering our approach."
About the modern music industry and attitude he said, "I think it's unfortunate that diversity isn't encouraged. People now use music more or less as wallpaper for their lives."
In performance, Merchant commands all attention with her lithe, frail figure, twisting and careening like a possessed dervish between unfettered syllables, lost in her own world. "There's something magic," he comments, about live music. Magic indeed.
Preceding the Maniacs will be one of Albany's most original and creative groups, Mambo-X. The Mambos are oft compared to the Maniacs because of their guitar weaving pulse and Erin O'Hara's slippery vocals. Their tighter kick and jazzier lean however put them more in a twin-guitared Human Sexual Response school of liberal near-funk. They recently released a single, Lunar Afternoon/Too Much Thought, on the Schenectady based MCE label, highlighted by the intertwining patterns of guitarists Seth Kaufman and Mitchell Rosen and former A.D.'s bassist Mark Wilken, and the sharp, freely structured drumming of "Mr. Magic" Barry Litman. They will turn the Maniacs show into an exciting double-header.