Igor Houwat of Wisaal, an East Lansing based Arabic fusion group, plays the oud while performing in (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles Street, East Lansing. The oud is an Arabic lute which, along with the percussion and bass instruments, contributes to the Middle Eastern tones of the group’s captivating repertoire.
With multiple performances on a single stage in one night, the middle performers easily could get lost in the music frenzy.
But The Anatomy of Frank — a band based out of Charlottesville, Va. — despite being in the middle of two local musical talents, managed to stand out with its unique take on electronic music.
Describing themselves as indie prog-pop, The Anatomy of Frank charmed the diverse crowd with its nostalgic and dreamy music combined with an array of stimulating lights organized with each song’s melody Monday at (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St.
Sandwiched between MSU alumnus Nate Bliton and the Michigan-based Arabic fusion band, Wisaal, The Anatomy of Frank was three band members short, but Kyle Woolard and Jimmy Bullis combined to play at least seven instruments seemingly with ease, making up for the rest of the band.
Coordinating the lights with the sounds of each song, the band defies the idea that electronic music is a lazy technique. For each time the hypnotizing lights blink or change to another color, Woolard has to program each light for a track that accompanies the songs played.
“I like when music is a multisensual experience instead of just listening,” Woolard said. “Lights add movement on stage, and it’s more fun to watch. … I just try to see where the song wants to go and follow it. I want to put it in an electronic context, and that’s where I seem to go.”
The Anatomy of Frank is on a cross country tour this summer, visiting various locations including North Carolina, Washington, D.C., New York, Connecticut and Maine.
Wisaal band leader Igor Houwat said he was eager to perform alongside The Anatomy of Frank and was intrigued by the band’s unique music. With such a distinct sound, Houwat was excited to have Woolard and Bullis perform in East Lansing.
“It’s nice to have collaborations with people from outside of Michigan and Lansing,” Houwat said. “To my knowledge, there isn’t much of that happening here in Lansing, and the music scene isn’t as rich as it is in Ann Arbor or Kalamazoo, so it’s great to bring people like that.”
With music ranging from soothing tones with bits of hard rock thrown into the mixture, as one of the band’s main song writers, Woolard said he composes different songs to capture a different assortment of emotions.
“Music is good for capturing a whole range of emotions, whether it’s happiness, depression, anger, sarcasm,” Woolard said. “Music is good for it, and it can express it in ways words often have to really struggle to do.”
After Bliton’s experimental folk, electronic music mellowed out the audience and The Anatomy of Frank’s music proved mesmerizing and alluring, Wisaal took the stage to close out the evening.
The band — whose name means links and connections — combines Arabic, Jewish, Klezmer, American and South American instruments and sounds and has performed several previous times at (SCENE) Metrospace.
With many of the band’s members being MSU students or alumni, Houwat said Wisaal wanted to experiment with the different sounds because MSU doesn’t have much of a world music program. Continuing to educate the audience, Houwat introduced each song and its meaning before playing it.
“It’s cool because a lot of times you hear the songs and you like it, but you don’t really know the origins or anything,” MSU music performance masters student Joy Rowland said. “I thought that was pretty neat.”
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