Live Review: Telekinesis and Say Hi with NAVVI at Neumos 11/7/15

Five and a half weeks and thirty one dates later, Telekinesis and Say Hi return to Seattle. These two local veterans embarked on an epic co-headlining tour back at the beginning of October, and Saturday night, they wrapped it up with an unforgettable stop at Neumos. Both of their new records dropped on the same day back in September. New Telekinesis Ad Infinitum is his leanest and meanest yet, with thirty minutes of fast-paced pop magic. Say Hi's latest Bleeders Digest is the sequel to 2006's Impeccable Blahs, taking the vampire theme into a new era (new decade, new rules!). Together, the two give us one a synth-heavy night of pop magic. With local electronic duo NAVVI opening, tonight's Neumos date was a fantastic homecoming for these two local favorites.

NAVVI continue to perfect their sound and their stage presence as time goes along. It's only been two years since their debut single "Weekends", and in that time span, they've given us a handful of singles, an EP, and an increasingly dynamic live show that hasn't stopped growing for a minute. Just a couple weeks ago, the band dropped "In Gold", the latest of their synth-pop magic. The band took the new track to the stage with a beautiful presentation over a captivating flatland skateboarding montage, alongside other new material from the band's forthcoming LP. As can be expected, the new stuff continues to push the duo's horizon out further, with bits of hip-hop, house, and other influences creeping in. They couldn't have picked a better act to kick off tonight's collection of synth goodness.

NAVVI:

Man, what a crazy year for Say Hi. Dropping a new LP and touring 31 dates both as a solo act and as the bassist for Telekinesis is all in the last third of the year for him. Earlier in the year, he opened for Death Cab for Cutie, both at their secret show at Crocodile, and on their full Kintsugi tour throughout Australia. Tonight, getting to close that tour out with a room full of long time fans had to be a real treat. Eric played a couple choice selections from Bleeders, including the fantastic "Transylvania (Torrents of Rain, Yeah)". Elsewhere, he did a high level tour of most of his nine album discography. Award for oldest track goes to Numbers & Mumbles classic "Let's Talk About Spaceships". Award for best singalong goes to "Blah Blah Blah" from the first vampire album (seriously, how can you not smile when the guy on stage says "This song is about vampires" more than twice in one hour-long set?). And best dancing goes to "Transylvania", which had people completely off their feet. Eric brought it all for a fantastic showcase of all of the pop majesty that Say Hi is about.

Say Hi:

Michael Lerner makes pretty much every Telekinesis show a party. There's something about putting the drummer front and center on stage that you can't help but get giddy about. But when you take that setup add great songwriting and a furious Eric Elbogen on the blistering bass guitar, you have a recipe for telekinetic success. Ad Infinitum is a lightning rod of energy from beginning to end, and hearing it live, Lerner makes that only more obvious. Plenty of the new record was heard, as well as much of Dormarion. Lerner even threw in a cover of Randy Newman's "Living Without You" - how about that! While Lerner handled the drums, some synth, and most of the vocals himself, Eric jumped in on the vocals for "Power Lines", and the combination was a doozy. From beginning to end, the room was electric. You could tell the band on stage was happy to be home, and Neumos was more than happy to have them. Telekinesis kept the energy at full blast until the bitter end, and then it was time for everyone to get some much needed rest. This Telekinesis and Say Hi co-headlining tour was one for the books, and I for one wouldn't be unhappy to the pairing return in the future.

Telekinesis:

The new Telekinesis record, Ad Infinitum, is out now on Merge, while the new Say Hi record, Bleeders Digest, is out now on Barsuk. Grab them both at your local record store.