Concert Review: White Rabbits at Empty Bottle 7/1/09

July 2, 3:02 PMChicago Music Scene ExaminerJeff Fuldauer

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White Rabbits are: Stephen Patterson, Gregory Roberts, Alex Even, Brian Bettancourt, Matt Clark and Jamie Levinson

On a Wednesday night two hours before the first of three bands hit the stage, Empty Bottle staffers were turning away fans without tickets at the door. Whereas once White Rabbits found themselves lost in a crowded New York City dance-rock hipster scene, the band is now selling out gigs behind It’s Frightening, the sextet’s second album.

Chicago’s indie-rock followers packed the tiny music club to enjoy what the band calls “honky tonk calypso,” a chirpy combination of influences produced by Spoon front man Brit Daniel. And to no one’s surprise, what emerges is an album that sounds like a collection of Spoon B-sides.

When White Rabbits began assembling new material for a follow up to their debut, Fort Nightly, their bond with the crew of Spoon led to an obvious collaberation; White Rabbits put Daniel to work, serving as head producer and songwriting associate.

Daniel's heavy hand looms especially large on "They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong", "The Salesman (Tramp Life)", and "Lionesse", making for three jams that were great live performances. However It’s Frightening material is so Daniel-influenced, fans with no knowledge of the band could easily mistake the tunes for material on Spoon’s Gimmie Fiction. Especially on “Salesman (Tramp Life)” the sound effects, piano chords, rhythm acoustic guitar and driving drum beat are vintage Daniel creations. Vocalist Stephen Patterson even sounds a bit like Daniel while pleading “Recognize me” over and over in the song’s coda.  However, that's not to say White Rabbits don't evolve into a sound of their own, proving the crew of six are worthy, dedicated, acute paragons who have the potential to reach Spoon’s popularity.

Much like Gimmie Fiction, White Rabbits’ new material can be mysterious and spacious to nicely balance the more lighthearted tunes, a major distinction and improvement from Fort Nightly. The ominous left-hand piano riff on “Midnight and I” breaks the album’s rhythm nicely to avoid the monotony of like-sounding songs -- and the tune achieved the same purpose when played midway through their headlining set.  It was an important breath of air before banging out “Percussion Gun,” It’s Frightening’s opening track.

The single was clearly the crowd favorite. A prototypical opening track or encore selection, “Percussion Gun” shows off Daniel’s arrangement skills as simmering guitar and piano combinations flash in and out of relentless dueling drums, reminiscent of Radiohead’s “There There (The Boney King of Nowhere). Just as is depicted on the album art, a duo of pounding drums smash into Patterson’s keys, illustrating in just over three minutes what the band is all about.

White Rabbits’ formula may be chock-full of elements taken from their contemporary influences, but they're impressively mixed and reshaped to deliver a sound familiar enough to attract fans of like music, but unique enough to establish their own identity.