Big Gray

w/ Morningbell & the Titans of Filth

Wednesday, November 1 @ Caledonia Lounge

originally published November 1, 2006

Courtnie Wolfgang

Lucas Jensen

Big Gray is many people, but one stands before the rest. Lucas Jensen - drummer, music publicist and professional conversationalist - started Big Gray a few years back when his then-bandmates failed to show at practice. After messing around with home recording for a few years, Jensen decided to turn Big Gray into a real band in 2005, with actual musicians laid out onstage around him in a casual yet consistent arrangement, manipulating instruments to perform the songs hatched from Jensen's noggin. Outside assistance was a necessity, as Jensen found it physically impossible to synchronize the performance of these various instruments all on his lonesome. Such help comes from members of Murder Beach, Red Leader, the Folk You's and Venice Is Sinking, the latter of which being a band Jensen also drums in. Together they have all turned Big Gray into one of the prime indie-pop bands currently batting its eyes coquettishly around Athens, if only infrequently.

Yes, Lucas Jensen writes all of Big Gray's songs, and, although generally a drummer, here he is a vocalist and pianist. He had to teach himself how to play piano after realizing he couldn't sing and drum at the same time. "I wish I could play through a headset mic like Phil Collins, but I am a terrible singer, and playing the drums would just make it worse," says Jensen, faux-modesty rippling through every word. Jensen's untrained voice finely suits his fuzzy, charmingly melodic pop songs, and bolsters the mid-to-late-'90s college radio aura that surrounds Big Gray. Indeed, he readily admits to "thoroughly holding on to 1994 to 1997" as a songwriter, and the loose indie-rock aesthetic is immediately apparent.

When pressed about Big Gray, Jensen replies with the following haiku: "We are King Midas / Flinging gold from our fingers / The magic of bling." Such confidence is refreshing, justified and thoroughly deserved.

Garrett Martin