They could be your cousins. Or maybe friends of your roommate. Or the cool baristas at your favorite coffee shop. What’s certain is that you’ll find it hard to classify The Guggenheim Grotto as they earnestly amble through their set, dousing the audience with soaring vocal harmonies and humble acoustic grooves. It’s the kind of experience that will make you want to nudge your neighbor and whisper “I’m friends with these guys…”
The Guggenheim Grotto is touring up and down the east coast in support of their sophomore album, Happy The Man. Keyboardist Kevin May and guitarist Mick Lynch - the full Grotto cast - take turns singing lead. Individually, both are able to demonstrate impressive vocal ranges. Together, they offer a crafted, soothing blend. Lynch lends heart to each song by cleverly amplifying his foot-stomps, while May sneaks in the occasional bass line with his left hand. The resulting sound is accessible, smooth, and irresistibly grooving. You could listen to the Grotto while staring out the car window, or as you hang-glide over a lake.
The comparisons to Simon and Garfunkel are inevitable, particularly when their lyrics ponder the uncertainties of existence. “Philosophia” seems semi-autobiographical, as the pair harmonizes on the meaning of art and their ideas. “Sunshine Makes Me High” offers an ode to the road-trip and the distorted sense of time that accompanies it. And praise to the Grotto for stealing straight from the Irish tenor playbook with “Fee Da Da Dee”! The happy-go-lucky chorus bounces around the room like the steps of a wandering lad. What’s more, the pair frequently asks the audience to join in and sing along, adding another layer to an already succulent sound.
And then, just at the turn, the Grotto will completely back off the gas. Displaying burgeoning musical prowess, May’s aching “Heaven Has A Heart” on acoustic guitar will have your head nodding in agreement with each insightful lyric - as if he sings of something we weighed in our hearts the night before.
The patter between the Grotto’s songs is light and upbeat, heightened by their Irish accents. The two closed their show at The Living Room in NYC by standing on chairs in the middle of the room - unamplified - and singing the fervent “The Universe is Laughing”, accompanied only by Lynch’s ukulele. It’s hard not to love these guys. Upon listening to their set, you’ll immediately want to buy them each a pint of Guinness for improving the day.
The Guggenheim Grotto performs every Wednesday in January at the Living Room in NYC. Tour dates are available on their myspace page. Their second album, Happy The Man, will be released January 29, 2009.
