Frankie Cosmos
DIY indie heroes Frankie Cosmos made their yearly return to San Diego, playing a sold out show at Queen Bee’s in support of their newest album Vessel.
Last Tuesday night, Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center hosted Frankie Cosmos‘s return to San Diego. The North Park venue was already packed by 7:30pm with teens and twenty-somethings eager to sing their hearts out. Meanwhile Ms. Ingrid Superstar (Greta Kline) herself, was reportedly spotted grabbing a bite down the street at Lucha Libre before the show.
Lomelda, solo moniker of Texas singer-songwriter Hannah Read, kicked off the show with her introverted, lo-fi tunes. Read offered the audience all her heart in a beautiful and emotionally heavy set about life’s fleeting and unpredictable nature.
IAN SWEET took the stage next energizing the crowd with their nervous indie pop. Lead singer Jillian Medford admitted to how performing is scary before ripping into a set about anxiety and depression. Fittingly enough, the group seems to embody anxiety not only in lyrics but sound as well. Their music is loud and off-kilter at times with micro-bursts of fuzzy guitars and cracking vocals. You wouldn’t know that Medford has a classically-trained vocal degree from Berklee College of Music when you hear these squeaks. After the show she told me she was recently in Brooklyn recording her next album. Safe to say we can expect some new IAN SWEET tunes very soon.
Akin to their usual live show, Frankie Cosmos stepped on-stage and went right in to the opening song. The indie heroes played a set comprised mostly of songs from their newest release Vessel, sprinkled in with some older fan favorites. Staying cool in a grey tank top, Greta Kline led the band through upbeat songs about the struggles of youth, love, and friendship. Before performing “Embody,” Greta spoke on long distance friendship and shouted out her friend Emily who recently made the cross-country move to California. The performance was as sweet and charming, as expected of Frankie Cosmos, but the laid-back audience and abrupt finish were decidedly unexpected. The crowd just wasn’t as animated as the last Frankie show at The Irenic where people were moshing and dancing. After the final song, the band walked off stage leaving most of us anticipating an encore only to be disappointed when instead they came back to pack up their instruments. In retrospect, they played a little under an hour so it wasn’t too bad, I guess you can just never get enough Frankie Cosmos.
