I&I @ the Fire
Last Friday night I got the opportunity to do my first write up for Tri-State Indie covering I&I’s show at the Fire.
Led by the lyrics of Imani Williams, multi-instrumentalists Ryan Chud and Daniel Faga utilized a looping pedal to quickly turn this trio into a rich ensemble.
I&I led with one of their strongest songs, “House Party.” Using layers of loops like painters with colors, they painted a picture one stroke at a time. They started with a simple high hat, snare, kick, bass line, guitar sustained chords, enter vox and smoothed over with selective drum beats and memorable guitar licks to create a full and sonically-pleasing picture.
My palate cleared as the loops faded making way for a catchy trumpet lick played by Ryan Chud into a raw, rapid, rap building into a strong climactic finish.
Imani Williams’ continuous, catchy, and intelligent lyrics attest to her talent as an emcee to keep an ear on. Although her lyrics didn’t strike a chord with me in particular, her energetic stage presence is infectious and kept me bobble headding through their set.
Impressive for a relatively unknown local band that formed in 2008 and have since opened for Average White Band, Bigger Thomas, Slo Mo, and Ruder than You.
I did a video recap of their show at Puck a while back that gives you a pretty good feel for their live show:
If you like what you see you can check out more of their stuff here:
http://www.facebook.com/FutureOfTruth
