Live Review: Body Language at Barboza 2/17/15

There's only so many ways I can say it: Brooklyn dance outfit Body Language deserves to be twice as big as they are in every way. Almost seven years into their band's career, two LPs and a handful of excellent EPs and singles to their name all with massively different character and direction, Body Language can pack a basement on the opposite coast full of party people and rock a show as professionally and impressively as anyone playing upstairs. Tonight, that upstairs band was OWSLA electronic group Hundred Waters, but I'll be damned if I didn't see the opener acts and members of several other Seattle electronic acts in the Body Language crowd here tonight (Beat Connection, Flavr Blue, and Manatee Commune all accounted for), all moving their feet and jamming along as they should be. Touring in support of new double A-side single "Really Love"/"Reset" and ahead of an impending third LP, Body Language broke the Seattle freeze and got the people going. I just hope its enough to merit another headlining tour in this part of the country sometime soon, because we can't wait to have them back.The most particular thing about Body Language is how they choose to break down barriers between a dance show and a rock show. Body Language opened the night up with "Feel It", off last summer's phenomenal free EP, Infinite Sunshine. The track is a no holds barred disco banger, but on the record, it's a pretty sample heavy track, grabbing bits and pieces of strings, vocals, horns, and whatever else there is to throw into the pot to make it a six minute piece of magic. All of this is wonderful, but it doesn't make for the most direct adaption to the live setting. But starting with this track was the perfect choice, as it showcased Body Language's unique choice of arrangement perfectly. As Matthew Young and Grant Wheeler handled the barrage of synthesizers from opposite sides of the stage, Angelica Bess took front and center and alternated between lead singer and dance coordinator. Even with the spacious vocal arrangement of the track, there was never a dull moment for Bess - she made the off mic moments just as impactful to the audience as the on mic ones. Finally, with drummer Ian Chang's mixture of live drum and drum machine, the track's percussive foundation was ironclad. After seeing the arrangement here, I don't think there's a better way to do it anywhere.

Body Language started as the dance project of Young and Wheeler, joined soon after by Bess to give their vocals some new life and joined by Chang in the live setting for maximal dance party effect. This makeup has given Body Language a very unique freedom over the years. They write like an electronic act, intermittently reinventing themselves to the next wave of the scene, constantly bringing in an expanding array of sonic influences to make their music as enticing as possible. But the best way to see all of it in action together is in the live setting. Here, Body Language past, present, and future all blend into an overwhelming mixture of synth pop brilliance. "Good Things" is more disco fire. "Reset" is bass-driven R&B sultriness. Every cut off their 2013 LP, Grammar, especially "Just Because" and "Well Absolutely", is a euphoric, radio-ready synth pop masterpiece. And going all the way back, their Social Studies cuts perfectly balance disco, synth-pop and cool electronica for soul clap crowd participation cuts like "Falling Out". Wherever you look, you are bound to find something you want to dance to.

But besides all of the understated pop brilliance and live professionalism, Body Language also know how to have fun. After closing out their pre-encore set with Grammar cut "Lose My Head", they skipped the exit stage/reenter stage bit and went straight into a cover of Whitney Houston's classic "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", nodding to the recent third anniversary of her passing. If there was a soul left in Barboza not moving and singing along, this track got them off their feet. And with good timing too - Body Language's closer was the new single, jungle-tinged wonder "Really Love". The track was a marvel to listen to and watch on stage, between Wheeler's staccato synth lines and Chang's merciless live interpretation of the song's already brutal jungle break. Beginning to end, Body Language brought a party to Barboza in a way only they could. Let's hope the west coast gets its act together and puts this wonderful synth pop act in a bigger venue on their next go around.

Body Language: