On Friday night, DJ-turned-songwriter Avalon Emerson returned to the Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right for the first time in nearly 10 years. The dreamy, indie-pop-filled evening featured her dizzying new album “& The Charm.” Emerson, known first as a DJ, has begun a new musical venture with her wife and guitarist Hunter Lombard and bassist Keivon Hobeheidar to make her latest project.
Baby’s All Right, considered by some a stepping stone in the New York City music scene, was an apt choice for the concert. As the show began, Emerson explained that the last time she was on that stage was to DJ an after party for MoMA PS 1 in 2014 so it only made sense for her to return nearly 10 years later to perform for fans curious to explore her new sound.
Emerson’s roots as a DJ were in full force, allowing her to bring the crowd through a 45 minute set filled with synth grooves and dreamy vocals. The crowd lost themselves in the music, dancing from the first note till the last chord.
Baby’s was filled by the time the group came on at 9 p.m. Typical of shows in New York, the crowd was a mix of those who hopped on the J train after getting off work in FiDi, those who just rolled out of bed and stumbled over, and of course, family and friends of the band.
Love was in the air. Perhaps due to the warming weather, it seemed that every other person at the show was holding hands with a significant other. Attentive concert goers might’ve caught sly glances and smiles between Emerson and Lombard – the married guitarist and the vocalist. The love between the two of them translated into their easy going, feel-good set.
Opening with “Entombed in Ice,” the breathy second track off their new album, the purpose of the evening became clear: this was a chance to dance. True to her DJ roots, Emerson’s music made the crowd move, with some swaying together arm in arm, and others dancing their hearts out in their own world, letting the bass move through them.
On “Sandrail Silhouette,” the third song of the show, Hobeheidar switched out his bass for a cello, with staccato notes highlighting Emerson’s dreamy vocals. The four-minute track landed somewhere between shoegaze and dance. The first single from the project, “Sandrail Silhouette” caught the attention of music publications when it debuted in January, but to hear it live on a backlit stage in a dark room elevated the track to the highest degree.
“Karaoke Song,” an upbeat tune perfect for the middle of the show, followed. Although the music hall was swaying all evening, it was during this song that everyone really let loose. The audience collectively released the weight of the week. The two concert-goers standing beside me came alone: one, a young man in his 20s and the other, a woman in her 40s. They both seemed to get lost in this song, each dancing their hearts out as Emerson’s vocals blended into a lullaby punctured with the maxed out bass.
Pulling from her solo catalog, Emerson moved into “Long-Forgotten Fairytale,” an electronic track on which her newly found indie voice fit perfectly. The phrase “long forgotten fairytale” looped over the synth beats, creating a hazy trance of a performance.
Throughout the whole set, it was difficult to discern the lyrics, though seasoned listeners around me knew their stuff. The emphasis of the set was on how all of the sounds came together to create an experience for the audience, a skill Emerson clearly honed in her many years of DJing around the world. However, this sole lyric, of a fairytale lost, dominated the song, a happy juxtaposition as Emerson sang alongside her wife on stage.
The closing song, “Astrology Poisoning,” gave the crowd one last opportunity to let loose. The guitar notes on this song left ears ringing with one of the band’s grooviest tracks. As quickly as the song began, diving headfirst into the catchy beat, it ended. Only after a quick thank you and goodnight, Emerson and her instrumentals disappeared off the stage.
Coming in at around 45 minutes, the set was a crowd pleaser. Though Emerson joked at the beginning of the show that she preferred concerts to DJing, because they allow her to “end early,” her performance seemed to be the first stop of the evening for many of the concert-goers. Outside, amongst the crowd of cigarette smokers and those waiting for Ubers, different friend groups could be heard debating where to head to next. “I want to go out,” declared a young man hanging around the ropes, and everyone around him agreed.
“& The Charm” was Emerson’s exploration into the world of singing and songwriting. She does it well, one might describe her as part of the new vanguard of synth- and indie-pop. What her show in Williamsburg highlighted was her never-ending talent to lead a crowd through an evening. Whether it be booths in Berghain or wood stages in Williamsburg, Emerson gives the crowd a good time wherever she ventures.