French indie rock outfit
The Two played their first NY city show (after recently performing at Sundance in Colorado) at the beautiful Joe's Pub. The man (David Jarre)/woman (Ara Starck) duo have been gaining plenty of hype in their native France and their eyes set on increasing their visibility to American audiences. If this show was any indication, they've got the talent to make that happen.
The duo shared vocal responsibilities, mixing Ara Starck's beautiful alto with Jarre's intriguing tenor to create a wonderful harmony on their gorgeous little love songs. Backed up by two local set musicians on bass and drums, The Two played about an hour set from their currently limited library of tunes (including a Michael Jackson cover of "They Don't Care About Us"), and they have a sound that would have fit in perfectly on late 90s college rock radio although they incorporate some more overt electronic elements than those acts. Jarre was a wonderful guitarist and switched back and forth between an acoustic and electric guitar without the music ever losing any momentum.
One of the biggest surprises of the evening was the appearance of Amadou Bagayoko, who is half of the Malian worldbeat group,
Amadou & Mariam (Mariam was also in the audience). If you aren't aware of who Amadou & Mariam, go ahead and do yourself a favor and listen to their album
Welcome to Mali you'll thank us later. Amadou played lead guitar on a free-form jam session in the middle of the set, and he nearly stole the whole show. Seeing that older blind man rock out on his guitar was truly a delight.
The Two closed their show out on their lead single, "I Want to Be With You Again," an affecting love song (most of their songs were love songs) that really moved the crowd. Check it out below.
