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Frazee takes his high-wire act to the people. Aint No Dime-Store Psychology By Jeff Palfini The first time I saw Brian Frazee live, on a cold October night in Los Angeles, he was playing on a Tuesday at the Coconut Teaszer, a rock club on the east end of the Sunset Strip. Earlier that night, I had taken a pill of indeterminate substance found in my room service menu at the Hyatt West Hollywood (formerly the "Riot House" of '70s rock 'n' roll fame), but I distinctly remember my first impression, floating and hazy though it may have been. In the intimate basement of the club, it became clear that Frazee is an innovator, he is inventive and has a voice -- a voice that dances and jumps and spins and flips -- much like Morrissey or The Cure's Robert Smith. That night he was an acrobatic one-man show, singing, playing acoustic guitar, keyboards, and percussion, and looping them all to create the illusion of a four- or five-piece band. His music drew the audience in through its painfully plaintive, resonant lyrics and kindred melodies. I remember feeling very, very good (partly the pill, a Quaalude I think), yet also a little disappointed that there were so few people in attendance to hear this act. But Frazee should find a wider audience with the release of his debut album, Feeding the Id, and the supporting tour. The album (available in stores and on his website, www.brianfrazee.com, May 14) is a far cry from his live solo shows, but finds legs of its own for the simple reasons that his songwriting is engaging and he has a voice that sounds great in both a live setting and on a highly produced album. Feeding the Id does suffer a little, however, for the loss of the raw edge achieved in Frazee's live performances. Gone are the bare bones, found-sound rhythms of his live shows, ushered in are the drum kit and somewhat overused church bells. But what is lost in grittiness is gained in beauty. The meticulous production work on Feeding the Id is a showcase for Frazee's voice and wraps those vocals in a tightly wound melodic package. Frazee plays all of the instruments on the album, excepting the drum tracks, laid down in two days by friend Chad Derick. In addition to his multi-instrumental work, Frazee is also the producer on the album. Frazee's songwriting talent is evident on the album's finest effort "Wildest Heart," a catchy, well-paced track that is the most likely to get radio air-time. The song thrives through its simile-driven lyrics, often a dangerous ground for young songwriters. But Frazee pulls it off here with refreshing, thoughtful juxtapositions describing a young man's yearning for a free-spirited girl: "And I need it / like the rain needs the ground / like the silence needs sound." The first five songs establish a momentum. However, by the time the fifth song is halfway through, one is left with the feeling that they have heard that song before. For this reason the sixth track, "Come Here, Boy," is a welcome departure. The song's insistent, throbbing rhythm, playful string interlude and vocals wake the listener out of the slumber that set in on the previous song. Feeding the Id finishes with a mesmerizing, dreamy track called "Stitch," which provides a coda for the album through liberal use of reverb, haunting vocals, and spacey keyboards. Taken as a whole, Frazee's album is a fine freshman effort, especially considering he made the album almost single-handedly. And it gives the listener a taste of his style and an idea of what to expect at his next live solo appearance. But don't just take my drug-addled account of his live performance as fact, check Frazee out for yourself this Friday at the Vulcan (www.vulcanradio.com) in Oakland. Jeff Palfini is a freelance writer, and sometime foolish risk-taker, living in San Francisco. [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]