Yot Club and Renny Conti Turn The Fine Line Into a Dream
After the whirlwind that was this past weekend at the Caterwaul festival, to the insanity that was Monday night with Witch Club Satan, I needed a chill night, but that didn't mean that I had to sit at home. I wanted to be at a show, I did, but I wanted the show to calm me down. I feel like I was still a bit on edge after Monday night's show. It wasn't a bad feeling, but I had the images and the phrase "You are the fire girl" still circling around my head, and I wanted it to stop so I could focus on anything else. Thankfully, there was a perfect show happening at The Fine Line on Tuesday night to give me the peace I was looking for while keeping me engaged and excited about all of the new music I've been consuming lately.
Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Renny Conti got the night started off right. Joined on stage by a fabulous band, I was instantly lost, swimming into Renny's words. There was something so genius about the way he stringed words together, but, at the same time, something so simple. It had an almost diary-like kind of presentation, but it was restrained in a way that you never felt fully overcome by grief, loss, love, or any of the other various emotions that Renny was singing about. Don't get me wrong, he was emotive, and you could feel the passion and fire that he carefully placed into every song, phrase, and word, but there was something almost beautifully passive about it. It gave you a second to clear your mind and your energy, while not going numb.
Stylistically, Renny and his band stayed in a very indie-pop kind of genre for the entirety of their opening set, but I wouldn't say that that's all this kid can do. You could hear a little bit of everything from a 90's alt-rock kind of influence here and there to even this grungy sense of angst that would glisten along the more standard indie pop backdrop. There were moments that had an almost folk kind of intimacy, but those would be quickly followed up by something with a bit more power and punch to it. No matter what the vibe was or what kind of influence I was feeling, the two things that remained constant were the talent of Renny's voice and the precision of the band behind him.
Headlining the Tuesday night show at The Fine Line in Minneapolis was Yot Club. This show was part of a tour in celebration of the band's new album 'Simpleton,' which came out in April. Instead of just playing the new album in its entirety, Yot Club mixed it up and threw in some new songs mixed with various other songs from their career that go back to 2014. Okay, maybe I should be clear here. Yot Club is not a band per se; Yot Club is the moniker for John Ryan Kaiser, a singer-songwriter and producer from Mississippi. That being said, on Tuesday night and for this tour, Yot Club came in the form of a full band, so, just to help keep the scene clean, I'm going to continue to refer to them as "the band". I just want to make it clear that this is the brainchild of John, but truthfully, that wasn't hard to see or hear.
The entire band on stage was great, and like the band behind Renny, played with a sense of perfect emotion and precision, but it was all eyes and ears on John. He had this aura about him that was caring and tender, but at the same time, felt a bit larger-than-life. Maybe this was because of the deafening cheers that took place as John took his spot on stage, or maybe it was that he came off as raw and intimate yet playful and strong all at the same time. Regardless, it was not hard to fall into John's world and get lost in not only his persona but also his words. It wasn't like John was trying to capture hearts and souls. No. Something about his aura felt so much more understated and like he wasn't even trying that hard, but, at the same time, you could hear that he was giving every word his all, and that's what made me fall head over heels for Yot Club.
Tuesday night's show wasn't overly exciting. There weren't giant bursts of energy or anything to really note happening in the audience, but that's okay. Not every show needs to have something dramatic or explosive behind it. Sometimes it's nice to go to a show and do just that, be at a show-- consuming music in one of its truest forms-- live.
