Live Review: Alex Nackman at The Mercury Lounge [8.14.07]

After catching an intimate Badly Drawn Boy set on the rooftop, I booked it downtown to catch Alex Nackman's 8.30 set at the Mercury Lounge. Immediately obvious is that Nackman is in a singer-songwriter transition. Having played shows alone and with relatively large backing bands, Nackman has, on his most recent tour, settled on being a three-piece and looks to have finally found a drummer and bassist he can go to war with.

Consequently, he's gone electric on almost every song in his repertoire. This might surprise some of his old, loyal fans who have followed Nackman from college song-writer to "oh shit, your song is in the opening fly-in on Laguna Beach!" The move from organic, acoustic-sounding sets to a harder, chunkier sound is a good one. The singer-songwriter market is over-stuffed like a Weight Watchers elevator and Nackman is doing what he can to get noticed and get away from the pack. It's not an easy road. Nackman looks at home performing the songs that he's toured with for almost a year now. Looking vulnerable and morose one moment, confident and believing the next, he mows through anthems dying for the manic mood swings and heart-break of a post-adolescent short story. Break-ups, lost love, found love, love, girls, tours, doubt - Nackman touches them all, at times with a deft lyrical voice and at times with the bulldozer of 20-something exaggeration.

The songs are tight and the band has them down. The evening high-lights with the double-dose of "Stay Where You Are," a legit, radio-ready affirmation and the more protracted and occasionally explosive, "Venice." And just like that, the night is over. Nackman and his band are left to hit another city and another crowd and hope that the marks they make are louder and brighter than everyone else.