What You Gonna Do When The Music Is Through?

How are you ever going to find something new if you don’t jump into new worlds on a whim? As you may have read from me before or noticed, I refuse to be put into a box when it comes to the kinds of shows I cover. Yes, this blog is called “Girl at the Rock Shows,” but really, I feel like maybe “Girl at the Random Concert” might have been a bit more fitting (though it wouldn’t have had the Blink-182 reference then, so here we are). This was absolutely the case on Tuesday night. Sure, there was an epic metal show happening at Zhora Darling, but my heart told me I needed something fresh and new, so I opted to go see an a capella group at The Dakota. I know, wild card, and, as seemingly random as it seemed for me, it ended up being a truly amazing evening.

Naturally 7 was the only performer on Tuesday night at The Dakota, but really, that’s all the audience needed. This group from all over the country performs a super unique kind of a cappella that they call “vocal play.” Don’t roll your eyes. I know every band has a tendency to come up with some unique way to describe a sound that has been done a million times before, but that is not the case here, and I don’t think I’m saying that just because the a cappella world is a new one for me. According to group leader Roger Thomas, “vocal play” is “the art of becoming an instrument using the human voice to create the sound.” I have your attention now, don’t I? Honestly, “vocal play” is the only way to describe what this band does. Sure, it was a cappella, but the way each member seemed to simulate playing the instrument they were mimicking with their voice brought a sense of charm and stunning talent to the stage. It also began to scrape the surface of the talent behind this band. I don’t know for sure, but watching these men as they played invisible instruments led me to believe that they had actually spent some time on said instruments. From the trombone to the drums, something about the way they were “playing” felt too real to just be a mime of sorts.

Like I said, that just scrapes the surface of the talent of this group of men. It’s their voice that will leave you trying your best to pick your jaw off the ground, but to no avail, because the talent never stops flowing. The only “instrument” on stage was a small electronic device that helps the vocalists loop and create a bit of a beefy background behind what they are doing. Beyond that, it was all voice, but had you not been watching, you could have easily been fooled into thinking you were hearing a full band. Sure, the group did some traditional a cappella songs where it was just voices and nothing else. Those tracks were absolutely stunning, but it was the songs where the group made it sound like a full band that really had me going. I don’t know how the members did it, but I heard some guitar solos come through some of their voices that put real guitarists to shame. I also heard drum fills that were more complicated than I hear drummers do on a standard night.

I loved the way you got a mix of everything from this group. As one of the members mentioned, Quincy Jones once came up to them and seemed confused about how to classify them. Are they jazz? A cappella? R&B? Pop? Soul? Rock? The answer to all of those questions was yes, and, again, kind of like the whole “new name” for what they do, this is something that a lot of bands say but don’t really take to heart. Naturally 7 does. Every song they performed during their epic two-part set on Tuesday night seemed to drift into a different category. Naturally, I preferred the more rockin’ songs, but there’s no denying that they had me leaning closer to the stage with the more classical-leaning songs and snippets that they performed.

It wasn’t just a performance on Tuesday night; it was also a class on voices of sorts. Although it was mostly basic and made it clear that this group has spent their fair share of time performing for schools and a much younger audience, it was so eye-opening to hear them talk and showcase exactly what they were doing. From explaining the different levels of voice, all the way from the deepest, darkest baritone up to the high-flying tenors, I appreciate the way that they took the time to dumb it down in a way for those who didn’t know the levels of voice. There was one song in particular where the members would fall in and out of the song one by one, giving you a chance to see just how much one single voice could change the way a song sounded. Being surrounded by music my whole life and having spent my high school years in various choirs (mostly accompanying on piano– don’t worry, I wasn’t singing), I knew a lot of what they told the audience, but I just really loved how watching them explain everything and showcase everything really showed just how much passion these members have for their art.

This show was not without its cheese, but it was the perfect amount of cheese. Again, you can tell that Naturally 7 spends a lot of time in front of youth with the way they threw in some of the worst dad jokes I’ve ever heard and had an almost scripted feel to some of the moments. Normally, cheese is not something I can get down with, and it often leads to me feeling a sense of burnout or a lack of creativity on the bands’ part, but that wasn’t the case here. Naturally, 7 sprinkled the cheese evenly throughout the set, and it came off as charming rather than burnt out or overdone.

This review is all over the place, I know, but my mind was all over the place as I watched Naturally 7 perform on Tuesday night, so I’m not going to apologize for it. This show was unlike anything I had seen in a very long time and reminded me of the magic that can be found in music, regardless of the genre. So what are you waiting for? Get out of your comfort zone and jump into something completely new and unknown. I promise you’ll end up having the time of your life.