Hest woos audiences at Tea Room
A portion of the 20-something audience that filled the ElmStreet side of the Gypsy Tea Room was there just to see Ari Hest, asinger, songwriter who opened for SMU alumnus Cary Pierce lastweekend.
Hest’s biography writes that his voice is reminiscent ofJames Taylor and Peter Gabriel — if you weren’t bornwhen they were big, think Dave Matthews and John Mayer.
Onstage, Hest has a similar Mayer alternative rock moonwalkwhile playing the guitar. Then, while he’s standing in frontof the microphone, Hest closes his eyes and dances to the musicwith a Matthews-like head bob.
In an interview, Hest said that when he started as a guitarist,Matthews was his inspiration. The bandleader’s influence isnoticeable during Hest’s performance onstage and inrecordings.
His performances are therapeutic for him by giving him a chanceto vent, and he hopes that his audiences are moved in some wayafter they’ve heard him sing.
Live performances are his favorite aspect of being a musician;getting feedback from the audience, whatever it may be, is wasdrives him.
Saturday night, the audience belted out the most howls andspastic body movements when he sang, “Not For Long.”This piece, which features him with a band, is one of his mostrecent recordings from this past summer and has yet to make it toan album. The audience really came alive — especially becauseof the nature of the previous song.
“Didn’t Want to Say Goodbye,” from his recentalbum Story After Story, is beautiful piece, but it can put adamper on a live audience.
This solo piece falls into that depression-based trap that somebands, such as Coldplay, unfortunately find themselves gettinginto.
Not all of Hest’s guitar-based solos are depressing,however; “Come Home,” from his second album of the samename is one of his best songs.
The lyrics, “just come home as soon as you can,”make you want your special someone to come home —literally.
This song is particularly upbeat, as it gives the feeling thatsomeone is only a few states away from you, and not a worldaway.
Track No. 4, “Monsters,” and track No. 8,”Holding On,” from the Story After Story album, werealso two notable performances. “Monsters,” featureslyrics from the album in which each song tells a certain story fromHest’s past.
The New York native completed his first album in 1999 over oneweekend with only a $1,000 budget as a college sophomore.
Since then, he has completed two additional albums and iscurrently working on a fourth one in between tours.
Throughout November, Hest will be on the “Rubber Meets theRoad” tour featuring The Clarks, Ingram Hill andPseudopod.
