The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, CA was the venue that held the bona fide debut performance of Brookville (a.k.a. Andy Chase of IVY). Apparently, Andy’s solo project Brookville opened for Goldfrapp a few years back but the curtain was closed on them during the 4th song. Ouch! That wasn’t very nice and not a fair review either.
Sure Brookville’s gigs may not be the cock out rock show; in fact, Brookville is excellent music for when you are in the mood to brood. The songs are a beautiful blend of pre-programmed sounds and acoustic music, and live instruments, which actually feels organic.
Brookville’s style has qualities of Elbow, but truly sounds like a mix between Savage Garden and the Postal Service. Andy, also a producer and co-owner of Stratosphere Sound recording studio manages to arrange perfectly a live trumpet for a small room. Most bands lucky enough to get a trumpeter over use the instrument. The trumpet added to the music, and did not take away from it.
Fans of IVY came out to the show but also there were people in the audience that were very familiar with Brookville. One audience member shouted out a request for the last song of the 10 song set “Slow Emotion Replay” and right at the beginning the band had a false start to which Andy said, “See what you did” and called for a “do over.”
Scattered laughter lightened the mood of a mournful but pleasing gig. Cheers filled the room at the end of “Slow Emotion Replay” and there was no encore. With that the band exited the stage as they entered, unassuming and yet regal.
