The Big Pink at Baby's All Right, Brooklyn

Robbie Furze

Robertson "Robbie" Furze was named by his music-loving parents after Robbie Robertson of the Band. Furze played guitar for Alec Empire, but in 2007 formed the Big Pink, named after a Band album, as an electronic duo with Milo Cordell. Based in London, England, the duo recorded two award-winning albums, but then in 2013 Cordell left the band and moved to New York permanently in order to focus on his label Merok Records. After several personnel changes, the Big Pink now consists of Furze, bassist Nicole Emery and drummer Bradford Lee Conroy. The band will release its third full-length record this year.

The changes in membership have left a musical dent on the Big Pink. The song catalogue as performed tonight at Baby's All Right could no longer be described as  electronic or industrial rock; the stripped-down guitar-bass-drums performance would be closer to a form of alternative rock. Although the more edgy, experimental side of past lives was missing, the band still often dwelled on its principal attribute, a bombastic wall of sound tempered with light vocals. Periodically these songs would be hoisted by big hooks, while other songs were driven by more hypnotic grooves. The best compositions matched Emery's ethereal vocals with Furze's earthier vocals. The Big Pink is a very promising act; reinvention can be risky but in this case it seemed like a new chapter is still being written.