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Bao Le-Huu
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Gabby's World at Will's Pub
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Gabby’s World, Bellows and TV Dinner, Will’s Pub, July 29
Gabby’s World is the newest guise of New York musician Gabrielle Smith, the mind also behind
Eskimeaux and
Ó. And this recent concert presented by Ugly Orange was the band’s Orlando debut.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Gabby's World at Will's Pub
Although – or perhaps because – Smith has covered considerable sonic ground before arriving at this current pop sound, Gabby’s World has a
wide, versicolor indie horizon that’s much easier to feel than to tidily encapsulate in description.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Gabby's World at Will's Pub
With a high-functioning four-player band that includes Bellows leader and fellow Epoch member Oliver Kalb, that spectrum was stroked with vivid definition and fidelity. It was a luminous performance that underscored how naturally Smith is wearing her latest pop skin.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Gabby's World at Will's Pub
And her local moment of the night was when she gave an onstage shout-out to
OW music contributor
Ida V. Eskamani, who was in attendance and had interviewed Smith for a preview feature story.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Bellows at Will's Pub
Though this was the Orlando premiere of Gabby’s World, Gabrielle Smith has performed in the City Beautiful before. A couple years ago, it was a part of
Bellows, who were now opening up for her.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Bellows at Will's Pub
Like Gabby’s World,
Bellows is primarily the vehicle for a single musician, the aforementioned Oliver Kalb. From bedroom beginnings, Bellows has sprouted
big indie-pop wings. With the same cast of players as Gabby’s World, this band rendered Bellows’ lovely, unbridled pop spirit with elegance and anthemic scale.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Bellows at Will's Pub
Kalb’s local moment was his recounting of an exchange he witnessed at one of their previous Orlando shows where the Will’s Pub door guy either bravely or ignorantly denied a member of the
Warlocks biker gang who was determined to avoid the cover charge.
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Bao Le-Huu
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TV Dinner at Will's Pub
Opening the night was reliably upward Orlando band
TV Dinner, whom I’m going to officially stop referring to as
“twee pop” because they’re now much more than the act they started out as. Between their crystallization as a group and the blossoming of singer-guitarist Julia Joyce, who has really benefited from the sharpening she’s been doing solo as
Julee Bruise, they’re an indie-rock unit of more incision, efficiency and substance than ever.
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Bao Le-Huu
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TV Dinner at Will's Pub
TV Dinner aren’t simply pleasant anymore. Both emotionally and sonically, their complexion is deeper now. They cut, and they bleed. And they’ve been one of the more impressive local evolutions in recent years.
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Bao Le-Huu
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TV Dinner at Will's Pub
Follow Bao on Twitter (@baolehuu)
Email Bao: baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com