Ari Herstand kicks off Acoustic Buzz with his fifth performance at Concordia
The Centrum was filled with a smattering of attendees last Friday night for the Acoustic Buzz Kickoff. Like the good Lutherans that many present were, they populated the back and middle sections of the seating in busy clumps, milling quietly and waiting between the sets for the guest performer, Ari Herstand, to take the stage. He eventually did, briefly but happily addressed the crowd, and started to play.
Surrounded by an array of microphones, wires and instruments, he began to build a musical landscape piece by piece. He started with some guitar by laying down some chords on an acoustic that didn’t look that old, but had a hole nearly worn through the top.
With that loop running, the music grew thickened; he added more guitar chords, some beat boxing for rhythm, a trumpet lick that evolved into a three-part trumpet section, and some tambourine for good measure. Suddenly this lone musician is a full-on band plus horns, and a sound fills the space from corner to corner. You can close your eyes and not even realize that it’s just one guy behind it all, but when you open them back up, you see him dancing and performing with enough energy to make up for the fact that he’s missing at least five players. By the end of the song, the back row is empty and the front row is full and being added to as Herstand draws listeners in.
This performance was Herstand’s fifth time on the Concordia campus, making us his most-visited school in a college tour of about 50 schools in a year.
“I really love coming to Concordia College,” Herstand said. “It’s probably one of my favorite schools to play.”
Herstand has felt a special connection with Concordia since he started his career as a musician. He played at Cornstock in the spring of 2007 with Cake, a show that was at that time the biggest he had done. Since then, he has been back on campus for Acoustic Buzz and various other events.
“They keep inviting me, and I keep saying yes,” Herstand said.
One aspect of Herstand’s performance that makes it so captivating is the way he performs his music. He uses a looping station, a live recording and playback device that he uses to record himself playing all the instrumental parts in his songs. That way, one man on vocals and acoustic guitar can turn into a band of ten players.
Herstand did not set out to play his music in this style. Herstand began as a musician as many do, by playing gigs at coffee shops. However, these gigs didn’t offer much of an opportunity to stand out.
“Everyone sees a dude on stage with an acoustic guitar, they think he’s just like everyone else,” Herstand said.
So, as a way to shine on stage, and as a way to replace the sonic element of the bands he was used to playing with, Herstand began accompanying himself with a looping station. This style of performing gradually evolved into a full-fledged act, including keyboard, multiple trumpet parts, multiple guitar and vocal parts, and of course, tambourine. Herstand loves playing with a full band, however, and his latest studio album, entitled “Whispering Endearments,” employs a band.
“When I wrote the songs originally, I had a full band in mind,” Herstand said. “I didn’t write theme necessarily for the loop station.”
The flipside to that is Herstand finds that playing as a solo artist, especially given his unique style of performing, is more conducive to traveling from venue to venue.
For reasons that are ultimately more logistical and financial than anything, Herstand reserves playing with the band for larger venues. However, he is looking forward to the time when he can tour and play with a band all of the time.
“Just having that musical chemistry on stage amongst all the members is an incredible feeling,” Herstand said.
So, on Friday night, all alone on stage, Herstand had the task of building that chemistry with the audience. Everyone in the place was riveted by his engaging performance, sitting silently during the ebb and flow of each song and applauding enthusiastically when each was done. Herstand found the attentiveness of the audience to be a real treat.
“I got to play songs I never get to play, just because the audience was so wonderful,” Herstand said.
