Live Music: Raavi & the Houseplants
Wax Museum in Brooklyn, NY
By Carly Tagen-Dye
If you can encapsulate a crowd in the cramped basement of a Brooklyn apartment, where the air is suffocating and the heat sticks to your skin, you know you’ve got something special. Raavi & the Houseplants capture that ability with ease. The Boston-based group, comprised of Raavi Lucia (guitar/vocals), Josef Kiefer (guitar), James Duncan (bass), and Madden Klass (drums) swung through the city on March 23 to play a small DIY show in Bushwick. It was the conclusion of a weekend tour with NYC band Winnebago Vacation, performed to a packed room of art students and neighborhood wanderers alike.
Raavi & the Houseplants played a set of new songs from their upcoming album, which they plan to start recording next month. The tracks stayed true to the dreamlike stance their previous EP And I Miss You Already put listeners in, while showcasing the group’s progression as well. During “Shoulder,” Duncan’s soft bass paired with the staggered chords of Versavel’s guitar had everyone swaying. The speed up in “Don’t Hit Me Up” was a nice surprise, highlighting the skill and intricacy with which the group plays with. It was hard not to get caught up in the music, forgetting any previous notions and just enjoying the moment as it was.
For a band as young as Raavi & the Houseplants, songs about growing up are inevitable. The two tracks they played from And I Miss You Already were heartfelt, and all the more resonant with their audience. During “I Think I Want”, Lucia sang with a kind of conviction that seemed to make the entire room fall in love. The gentle backbeat provided by Klass’ drumming made it one to move around to as well. Closing out the show with “All Over Again”, a bouncy and guitar-centered jam track, the band concluded their night in New York on a upbeat note, leaving their audience feeling the same.
If you ever have the chance to see Raavi & the Houseplants live, jump on it. With their intricate songwriting and chill vibe, they are a group sure to put you in a trance.
