The Gifted Children CD Release Show
by Donny Kutzbach
CD release show with Victory Light Black Honey, the Missing Planes and Hussalonia
For more than 10 years, Jeff Suszczynski has been making music under the moniker the Gifted Children, putting out what seems like an endless stream of songs. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Gifted Children’s model has been the Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard gristmill approach to rock and roll: Grind it down and make as much of it as you can. Throw in the psychedelic pocket symphonies of Neutral Milk Hotel for inspiration. While their penchant for snippet songs hasn’t been completely cast away, the shaggy and unpolished, unfinished nature of the songs largely has—at least on the band’s latest, Whitespace Differences (Tinhorn Planet)— and been replaced by loops, electronic sputtering and lush, synthetic arrangements. Suszczynski characterizes the Children’s lyrics as “sightly obtuse and vivid” and that’s apt because there is emotional depth and even strong storytelling to be found in these songs as you listen. Suszczynski is now living in Rochester, but he still considers the Queen City the band’s homebase. So to celebrate the release of Whitespace Differences he’s put together a perfect lineup of the area’s skewered songwriting geniuses, including Jesse Mank’s ever-dynamic musical outlet Hussalonia, Victory Light Black Honey and indie popsters the Missing Planes.
Saturday, February 2 at 9pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539/nietzsches.com).
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