Ami Saraiya

I still marvel over this.....Ami Saraiya lives in Chicago. She played Gallery Cabaret at 2020 N Oakley on 20th February. It was my first time there. The place is in a middle of a regular Chicago residential neighborhood. It looks like it was once a seedy pre-gentrification local bar. I think there were some local thugs still walking around as I drove past looking for the place. Once inside I looked for clues that can betray it's past. Perhaps I'm just assuming a past it does not have. All this curious speculation drifted into the background because Ms Ami was already performing. Whatever period music you are familiar with Ms Ami seems to remind one of that. Takes me back to "The Great Gatsby". Ami just has this swing to her that's old world, decadent, and still familiar. She's just so damn steam punk! For me she evokes the iconic sounds of pre-1950's America, old and innocent. "Up Down, and Charmed" was a favorite of mine from her Archeologist CD that she played that night. It's nice to see it live after I know I like it. There is this cool sadness to it, a drunken swing. Everything is in black and white. It completely evokes a theme in a movie. Each instrument has it's own little pull to you like separate characters in a story line. There's the voice, violin, guitar, drums. You feel caught in this narrative between them. I know I'm not really following the words in the song. That will impact later. When the song is slow you're hanging on every thing the characters say. Ami's voice being the protagonist. The pacing of the song, the title says it all. The peaks and valleys are effective and dramatic feeling. "Up, Down&Charmed" was already a favorite. Seeing it live is it's own wonder. How I describe this song I guess I can apply to more of her songs. Calling Ami's music "rock" sounds so misleading. It's not that style of decadence. On the Radiant Darling CD, listen to "The Otherside" and "Tears". They evoke periods and styles that precede rock and roll. She played songs from Radiant Darling. Becoming familiar with the songs only makes you want to see Ami live. Her music is just too fun to just have it on CD, on an ipod. If I hear her songs and immediately my mind is using costumes to dress everyone up, then I have to see her. I almost forgot the dueling accordions. They played this Bollywood song. She will play again this weekend. Chicago is fortunate to have her locally, because this is someone to see over and over again.

Zig