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Live Review: Jimmy Gnecco

Jimmy Gnecco's name might not a household one (even if you were to refer to the band he typically fronts, Ours), but lack of name recognition didn't stop the majority of attendees at tonight's show from enjoying it. Most of the crowd appeared to be present to see the night's headliner, Greg Laswell, giving Mr. Gnecco little more than a golf clap after merely one song. By the time Jimmy closed the set with the title track from his forthcoming record, The Heart, the response was loud, overwhelming, but more importantly – sincere.

From the time this gaunt, unassuming man took the stage without any of your typical rockstar fanfare, until the last note was played, Gnecco drew the crowd into an intimate glimpse of his life the past year. Having lost his mother to cancer, most of the songs dealt with love, loss, and longing in a more candid manner than musicians often allow us, foregoing commonplace metaphors for brutally honest lyrics and emotions. Having seen Ours/Jimmy twice before, I didn't know what to expect from the upcoming solo material since it would be nothing more than him and a guitar (expectations honestly were that most of the songs would be very slow, stripped ballads that we've all come to expect from a singer/songwriter performance). I was pleasantly surprised to hear him rip directly into a raw, violent rendition of “Hear Is the Light” from Ours' first record. The sound somehow transcended just the sole performer in front of the audience to create something much more full. His style of playing lent to its own underlying percussive sound. Even if they didn't know what to think yet, ears were definitely open.

The second song on the setlist was the first new song of the night, “Lights on the Grave”. The slow, haunting dirge, which can be compared on a few levels to “God Only Wants You” from Ours' last album, was more akin to what I came expecting to hear. It's a very beautiful song, but to my surprise, it was the last one of its kind to be found in the night. His next number was a new song entitled “Mystery”. I'd not be surprised to find reviews for his upcoming album to compare this song to something by the Beatles in regards to vocal melody. It was definitely less dark in musical tone, while the lyrics themselves were very longing and bittersweet. In one of many amusing moments between songs, Jimmy admitted he was a bit afraid to hit the final wail of the previous song due to a service dog being in the front row. He said that he has a tendency to hit certain notes that cause dogs, and only dogs, to go berserk over. The funny moments were a welcome, and needed, contrast to the stories behind the selections played that night since, as previously stated, his new material came from an emotional place dealing with the sickness and eventual passing of his mother. He deftly maneuvered between the dark and light subject matter in a way that gave the pieces greater emotional depth and connection, but  didn't come off as “pity me” or “I need love” (something I commend given the freshness of the wound). It was during one of the more somber moments that he introduced a song that he dedicated to all the overseas soldiers in lieu of their families, in addition to his mom from him. He said it's what each of those families has to be experiencing, and what he had experienced firsthand as he made the difficult decision to agree to full-time hospital care for his mom. The song was called “Bring You Home” and its guitar was not the solemn, heartbroken plucking you'd presume, but an aggressive burst of emotion that would've been right at home with much of the material on Ours' first album. Each strum was made with intensity, anger, and outrage, which accompanied Gnecco's pleas perfectly. By this time, there was resounding applause and everyone was along for the ride.

His sole introduction to the next song on his list was that it was a singer that he had shared an affinity for with his matron, and he smiled before smoothly sliding into the Roy Orbison classic “Cryin'”. When done with his cover, an audience member called out, “You're making me cry with these songs – they're so beautiful and touching,” to which Jimmy replied, “Well, happy isn't normally on my playlist,” with a big sheepish smile. “What can I play for you that's happy?” he asked rhetorically and another member of the crowd answered, “Bohemian Rhapsody!” Mr. Gnecco quickly obliged, though was sure to say, “So this is happy?” playfully to the audience after uttering the line, “Put a gun against his head...” He actually played the entire first half of the song up until the point of, “I see a little silhouetto of a man...” to the crowd's enjoyment, before introducing the next new song, “The Bells”. He stated that they just recorded another version of the song to appear on the next Ours record as well, and also said that he was happy to be hopefully drifting away from major labels when the time comes to release it. The song started with a punch and did not relent once it got off the ground.

Jimmy's next to last song was another new number, titled “Darling”. This song was a sweet and sour ballad, shifting between the perspectives of, “I wanted to believe in you...“ to, “Darling, I won't let you down”. After getting a time check and finding out there was time for only one more (which was met by a collective sigh of letdown, a rather hefty feat for a man who was a total unknown, especially to come from people who were there to see the performer AFTER him), he thanked Greg Laswell for having him on tour and asked two members of Laswell’s band to join him onstage for the closer, “The Heart”. This song, which shares the namesake of his impending solo release, had a gypsy or even borderline middle-eastern feel to it. One thing that can be said is that his vocal delivery, combined with the guitar piece, was very hypnotic and made for a very hammering farewell to his newfound and returning fans for the night. He thanked everyone as he left the stage, and you could tell from the beam in his face that he was proud, and maybe a little surprised, to have swayed the audience over as much as he did.

Catching up with Jimmy after the show and discussing what to expect from the sound of his solo effort, he said that it was definitely cut from the same swath of him as all the Ours material came from. His writing approach, he stated, was the big difference between the two. Where he often would write drum parts that would go against a guitar piece, or similarly guitar pieces that would battle other guitar parts within the same song, The Heart featured pieces that were written to complement one another and unify in the same sonic front. He said if the guitar would hammer forward, then the drums (if even applicable) would hammer forward with it, creating a new harmony from his previous pieces where things more so contrasted to create their dynamic soundscape.