Last Thursday evening the KnightSpot hosted a small concert featuring two indie rock bands, Eric Margan and the Red Lions and Musee Mecanique, who played to the enthusiastic audience that packed inside.
Eric Margan and the Red Lions opened the show, introducing themselves simply as "The Red Lions."
A five-piece band from New York City, The Red Lions impressed Geneseo with their traditional guitar and piano sounds as well as the addition of an instrument usually not seen at rock shows: the flute.
The Red Lions managed to wow the audience with a 10-song set, playing a wide variety of tracks off their debut album, Midnight Book, slated for release later this month.
Several of the band's songs had a very "jazzy" feel, such as "You are a Ghost," but for the most part many of the songs had a mysterious and almost haunting feel because of the addition of the flute.
"Bay of Naples" was definitely one of the better, albeit much slower, songs that The Red Lions chose to play. Eric Margan (vocals/guitar) and Johanna Warren (vocals/flute/guitar) alternated their crooning voices, accompanied by a keyboard and lone strumming guitar, creating a wonderful bridge into the second half of their set.
After The Red Lions ended their set, Musee Mecanique took the stage. A five-piece folk/indie rock band hailing all the way from Portland, Ore., Musee Mecanique put on an amazing show and definitely surprised the audience with their use of a unique array of instruments.
Their first song featured a singing saw played with a bow; an instrument used other indie bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel and The Music Tapes. The crowd was obviously impressed with this unusual instrument, calling for "more saw!"
Micah Rabwin, one of the guitarists, explained how he "had seen the saw at a couple of shows" that he had gone to and became "interested in learning how to play it."
The audience watched attentively as Musee Mecanique went on making use of a wide array of atypical instruments to play tracks off their recently new album, Hold This Ghost.
The song "Things I Know" featured an accordion, while several other songs included the collaboration of instruments such as a glockenspiel, melodica, tambourine and lap steel.
Musee Mecanique tastefully covered the Paul Simon song "Graceland" and finished off their set with the song "Like Home."
Junior Rachel Svenson said that she thought the show was "fantastic" and "really unique" while junior Ben Krolikowski explained how the first Musee Mecanique song reminded him of "early [Pink] Floyd."
The Red Lions and Musee Mecanique show was organized by the Mac's Place Coordinator, senior Curt LeClair, who chose both bands because, even though they're still relatively small, "they could definitely end up 'making it' in the world of indie music."
Upcoming Mac's Place events include The Visitations, playing Thursday, Feb. 12 at the KnightSpot following "The Vagina Monologues," and Blitz the Ambassador Friday Feb. 20 in the Union Ballroom.