Spring has sprung — and in this neck of the Midwest, it’s the season for picnics in the Nichols Arboretum, debilitating allergies and a slew of legendary concerts hosted by MUSIC Matters.
Usually hosted at The Blind Pig, the yearly Battle of the Bands is a campus mainstay and a stand-up riot. The Michigan Daily has covered it a number of times. This year, though, the music-biz collective broke form by hosting the Battle in a quieter, more intimate venue: The Ark.
With the new venue, MUSIC Matters adjusted their rivaling bands to match. This Battle of the Bands rounded up their plucky indie fare from across Michigan, from Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo. The bill included the guitar-brandishing duo Payton&Annabelle, Japanese math rockers pluot and two booze-themed jazz-fusion acts, ON TAP and Tell Me When.
Payton&Annabelle
Far from the grungy slackers of yesteryear, the four bands were all frighteningly punctual: By the time The Daily arrived at 8:01 p.m., the opening notes of Payton&Annabelle’s performance were already wafting down The Ark’s steps.
Formed in 2021, the Payton&Annabelle project sprung from the eponymous duo of vocalists before becoming a full-fledged band. Despite their demurring that “it’s our first time playing with the full band,” their inexperience didn’t show through at all. With Lukas Price’s close-guarded drum work and Ben Gordon’s delicate finger-picking, the whole band seemed to stand at pious attention to its two central voices.
Together, Payton&Annabelle was a match set of sweet singers inflected with country-style twang. On their cover of Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me,” the two never break from a delicate parallel harmony. It’s a unity so binding, so central to their sound, that they don’t leave space between their names.
In a different venue, the crowd would’ve gone wild — if there had been a crowd to speak of. But The Ark asks for a seated audience, and the norms of the new setting increased the allure of the performance all the more. It gave Payton&Annabelle more latent energy to play with, tease, draw out. By their set’s last song, a cover of No Doubt’s eternally spunky “Just A Girl,” the audience could barely contain their foot-tapping, head-bopping energy to their chairs. When Payton&Annabelle said goodnight, the whims of our bodies’ memory lingered after them like the smell of thunder.
pluot
After a clockwork-efficient setup and takedown, pluot struck the opening chords of their set without another word. On the first songs of the night, a pair of unreleased pluot originals, drummer Rajer Hsieh’s style was wild without ever missing a ghost note; by the time the chorus kicked in, he had the room buzzing with the thunder-crack of stick on drum. On the released EP, you might be fooled by Echo Bennett’s soft, ethereal vocal takes; live onstage, she instead belted, showing off her frightening chops.
When they finally stopped and introduced themselves, Takahito Mori’s reputation clearly preceded him; just his name received a round of applause unto itself. After introducing the band — the “cool name club,” as he called them — they covered “Tokyo Neon” by Mili, taking the show to rapturous highs. The math rock genre is known for its uneven, unruly time signatures, but on pluot’s arrangements, the beat never feels off; it just cascades down. Shudane Hendricks’ basslines filled The Ark like the sound of a river. Only halfway through the set did I notice Hendricks’ bass included a stinky accoutrement: a sock tied around the instrument’s neck. He later explained that it helped him mute his pesky fifth string, letting him climb through his blistering riffs with more agility.
Following a song off their EP, “Apocalypse,” the set concluded to thundering applause. For all the brashness of their performance, the band took that endorsement humbly as they made way for the Battle of the Bands’ back half.
ON TAP
Third to take the stage, ON TAP’s arrival was almost ominous. With a full set of brass and keyboards and guitar pedals, they’re a bunch of maximalists in true Ann Arbor-band fashion. Their cover of “I Put A Spell On You” enchanted The Ark crowd at its greatest size. As a frontman, Kait Bimer was more like a viper — every “you’re mine!” struck the dark offstage. Drawing on their strong sense of dynamics, the pop-inflected original song “Anticipation” took full advantage of ON TAP’s lush brass section. In ON TAP, everything from Robert Greene’s keyboard to Christian Sese’s guitar has its place — and their sound together was full and rich, like a well-seasoned meal.
Their night ended on a monumental cover of “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder — one that echoed across Ann Arbor when VUP covered it the next day at a co-op party. On “Superstition,” they pulled out all the stops: a trombone solo, an organ-like keyboard section, a powerfully squelchy wah pedal. When the show was over, ON TAP made themselves a memorable presence — and gave their huge crowd a feeling to take home.
Tell Me When
In the green room, the members of Tell Me When were an amiable bunch — but when they played the final set of the night, they meant business. Frontman Delia Cassidy told us to please stand up — and we were grateful.
Abandoning their seats, the crowd’s energy became swaying and palpable. Tell Me When were obviously natural rockers, and even when they turned down their distortion and sang the hits, the band was still able to bring down the house. Guitarist Ryan Devine told The Daily that he admired the other bands’ technical prowess — but he has the benefit of raw power and a creative use of pedals. As the set wore on, everyone was standing, bobbing, waiting for the cue to go wild. An inspired front row started moving chairs out of the way. Another row started dancing. Piece by piece, The Ark’s concertgoers rebelled to form a guerrilla dance floor.
Out of all the night’s singers, Cassidy was the most natural frontman. Towering in red boots and a flashy belt, she introduced Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” by asking, “Has anyone here been a bad, bad girl?” When it was time to play their one original of the night, “Hypocritical,” she intoned coyly that it was about dealing with a “bad friend” — and it was like letting the audience in on a close-guarded secret. The band’s frustration was infectious as the song chugged along; over Devine’s distorted riffs, Delia sang fast and loose, and her fury came hot and cheap. After arching higher and higher on their cover of Childish Gambino’s “Redbone,” the band let its iron grip on the audience’s throat go — and suddenly Tell Me When became an amiable bunch again, thanking the audience for their enthusiasm.
The Winners
When MUSIC Matters’ organizers asked us to vote, it was clear our hearts were still with that final performance. With the freeze-frame of the closing band in mind, the crowd made its choice: Tell Me When won the night, and ON TAP was the runner-up. The bands took home their checks; the rest of us left with ringing ears.
Daily Arts Writer Amina Cattaui can be reached at aminacat@umich.edu.
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