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| Boris Pelekh |
Boris Pelekh was born
in Russia and moved to New York City in 1991, at age nine. He played classical
guitar as a child, rocked on electric guitar in his early teens, and studied
jazz and composition in his late teens. In 2008, Pelekh conceived of a rocking
musical project he called
Hey Guy with
himself as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, and then drew a changing cast of
musicians to help him bring it to life. He also worked with the
Nickelodeon duo
Nat and Alex Wolff from 2008 to 2011, and toured in
American Idiot: The Musical from 2012 to
2013, but Pelekh is best known for playing guitar in gypsy-rock band
Gogol Bordello since 2015. Hey Guy
continues to be Pelekh's side project, however; in 2011, Hey Guy released a
self-titled album, in 2015 a four-song
EP,
hey guy III, and most recently a single entitled "Reason"
on May 15, 2018. The band presently consists of Pelekh, guitarist
Jason Binnick, bassist
Gill Alexandre, and drummer
Oskar Häggdahl.
At Mercury Lounge
tonight, Hey Guy demonstrated how a band simultaneously could throw a party, rock
hard and maintain a sense of humor. Pelekh sang alt-pop melodies, often cleverly
off-kilter, backed by progressive arrangements and in-your-face intensity. The
songs were complex compositions, intricately crafted and executed, but
nevertheless retained a consistently high-energy excitement. This sonic
approach was more alternative than most alternative rock, and injected with Pelekh's
party-activating antics, made for an evening of intelligent and fun music.
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