Glass Animals at 9:30 Club: (Disillusionment and Disassociation)

 When seeing live music, it comes down to the improvisational Jams for me. When offered a free ticket to the Sold Out Glass Animals at the 9:30, I perused their catalog on Spotify and thought it would be a change of pace and something different to write about for my ever-growing portfolio. With that in mind, I'll just jump right in.
 
I was unimpressed with this group, which has gained immense popularity over the past few years and it makes me feel as though I am disconnected with the younger generation in today's society, especially musically but I suppose that's what growing up is all about. There were people at this show who seemed like they had their life changed, people singing every word, jumping up and down, woman swooning. I haven’t seen anything like it in the Jam world, where musical prowess exceeds catchy lyrics and electronic “drops.” 
 
Glass Animals needs to find their funky side, get in touch with the roots of the music they are playing, instead of accentuating the pop bullshit. There were some moments within their performance that were well done, thought out and original but these seemed to be overshadowed by the musical/performance process itself.
 
While high in energy, Glass Animals could only keep my interest for a short time before ultimately, I kept wondering, "When will I hear a freakin’ guitar solo?" The musical capabilities of this band seems highly limited and very pop-keyboard centric, which with all due respect, takes a certain skill set of its own but it's not really in the same class of musicianship that I am used to seeing; it's more learning to synthesize and arrange computer sounds. The lyrics to their songs were catchy and again, pop oriented but I could see something there beyond the surface level. I would suggest that Glass Animals searches these depths to find the true nature of their lyrical qualities and musical abilities. Perhaps visiting the Talking Heads catalog and learning how to incorporate true musicianship and lyrical competency into what they are trying to achieve.
 
JBP

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