Frances Cone + Anthony D'Amato Play Mercury Lounge

Our old friends Frances Cone and new friend Anthony D’Amato were in town at Mercury Lounge for the early shows on a unforgivably cold Thursday night. It was one of the rare times the sound mixing at Mercury was actually in favor of the artists, so high fives all around on this one.

The only other time I’ve seen Frances Cone was during their semi-acoustic CMJ set, so it was nice seeing them in full arsenal mode. Their melodic and very harmonic indie-pop is the kinda music that perfectly balances on chill and energizing. Christina Cone led her troops covering old favorites and a new song for literally the first time without any hiccup. I was also impressed by guitarist Jeff Malinowski’s ability to take a lead role with his guitar with no overpowering presence, rather just adding that perfect top laying onto each song with attractive tones and a familiar way around the fret board.

Of course most in attendance were there to see Anthony, who’s currently hitting city after city in support of his recently released album The Shipwreck From The Store. The Garden State guitarist has been getting a lot of press with his new album, and rightfully so. While entertaining the crowd with YouTube comments and bloody tour hotel sheets stories, he did manage to play some songs off the new album as well. “There Was A Time” and “Ludlow” were just a few of the brilliant folk jams he and his band helped up dance to. Of course he got by with a little help from his friends with the brilliant Jeff Goldblum on bass (not really) and the gorgeous Katy Pinke helping out with harmonies. Anthony’s style seems to come from a modern mix of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but his show is nothing short of an original singer/songwriter doing his best to tell stories of a dude from NJ and his trusty guitar.

Article by: Tommy Shackelford

Photos: Lesley Keller