Winnetka Bowling League IN WASHINGTON DC
BY EJ JOLLYRed wristbands littered the crowd, Songbyrd’s hidden-in-plain-sight method of indicating the show was “sold out”. It took awhile for attendees to file in, and I can’t blame them knowing how grueling a Friday rush hour in DC can be. Songbyrd is always an intimate venue, and even more so when the band's fans skew a few years older than your average indie concert goer. It felt like being at a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend's party in their backyard full of fairy lights and mini disco balls. Everyone was enjoying themselves with a beer in hand and I'm sure happy to be done with the work week, spending the time celebrating Winnetka Bowling League's first album. Sha La La released back on May 31st, but they also have a new single, "This is Life", a collaboration with Medium Build and Dawes. I was surprised to find out this was their first full-length album, because that's the thing about a band like WBL- nothing has ever stopped them from releasing their music to the world.
Opening the show was Darryl Rahn, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter. Rahn gives off the impression that he's a simple kind of guy, donning bootcut jeans, tan workman's boots, a single FX pedal and a well-worn acoustic guitar. His latest album,Dusk, released back in February of this year epitomizes the simplicity of the acoustic genre, reminding me of a 2010s band Good Old War. But the modern mixing style, lyrical content, and Rahn's incredible vocal control contribute to this incredibly gentle and profound release. He finished off his set with a track fromDusk, “Heaven is a Dive Bar”, Rahn really captured the feeling of being somewhere dingy but safe; a space where the drinks are cheap and plenty and you don’t need to be anything but yourself.
Previously hidden under black drop cloths, a stack of vintage televisions were revealed upstage center, mimicking the screens adorning Sha La La's album art. Before WBL's set began, the largest and newest started playing upcoming movie trailers. The other 2 stuck on static, the remaining 2 blank. A pre-show song with a little too much bass rattled a functioning gumball machine next to the keyboard stands. (Unfortunately, those in the audience would not receive any candy or gumballs, but Rahn would nab one after he returned to the stage to help sing previously mentioned new single, "This is Life".)
Lead singer Matthew Koma entered the stage like a wind up toy, perfectly precise about its movements and never stopping. I think that confidence and energy comes with where Koma is at this stage of his life and career. He wrote the Grammy-award winning track "Clarity" by Zedd, produced countless more songs for other contemporaries and toured with 2010s powerhouses like LMFAO and Owl City. I only learned these facts by researching after the show, because his personal anecdotes featured mundane complaints about Planet Fitness’ protein powder and his joke pretending to be Justin Timberlake in a parents’ Whatsapp group. Whether this is a sign of his humble nature or just how it is being a decorated musician and parent to a kindergartener at the same time, it goes to show Koma isn't really all that different from you or I. He also announced he was practicing an acoustic cover of a Kid Rock song for us, only to start singing a great rendition of Casual by Chappell Roan. Even he's a fan!
“If you guys are bored, they’re showing Morbius on the TV tonight,” Koma points to the screen behind him after a few songs. Critically panned and critically meme-d, it's amusing to think someone had to purchase the movie on DVD prior to the tour for this joke. (I bet things like that can be written off as business expenses too!) Before providing some background about one of the new album's songs "Astrology and Context", Koma revealed it was about a girl's journey fighting cancer that he watched on Tiktok. He said it was interesting to be thousands of miles away from her still witnessing the journey, and how she communicated the experience with friends, family, and the internet. As he stopped explaining and began playing the opening chords, the moment became perfectly synced with the start of the hospital scene in "Morbius". It certainly made it much more impactful despite the irony, and I think emphasizes that life is complicated. It's funny, it's tragic, it's beautiful, it's terrible- all at the same time.
Maybe Koma's next part of his career will turn him into a standup comedian, because this was by far one of the funniest and refreshing shows I've been to so far this year. Though their headlining tour is over, WBL will be back on the road supporting Mother Mother in September and Dawes in November.
