Reviews

Some artists are better heard on disc than seen onstage.

VERNON BRYANT/DMN

Yaz's Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke brought soulful vocals and electronic rhythms to the Lakewood Theater on Tuesday.

That essentially applies to Yaz, the synthesized, atmospheric dance duo of Brits Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke. Ms. Moyet and Mr. Clarke are back together, at least for a tour anyway, and they stopped Tuesday night at the Lakewood Theater to perform for a packed house of boisterous fans.

The show was loud, sometimes excruciatingly so, and quite minimalist. Mr. Clarke played a small bank of synths while Ms. Moyet sang. Behind them was a wall of revolving computerized images.

On certain numbers, this mondo-basic setup worked nicely. "Ode to Boy" was haunting; "Goodbye Seventies" proved irresistible thanks to its synth-rock-dance groove.

Ms. Moyet remains in soulful, strong, enveloping voice. The woman's pipes can leap over even the most intense pastiche of electronic rhythms. And therein lies a problem. Yaz's songs – a mere two studio CDs worth, 1982's Upstairs at Eric's and 1983's You and Me Both – tend to be thick, weighty, inpenetrable. They were always the antithesis of happy-peppy synthesized pop. A few of the somber numbers, such as "Winter Kills" and "In My Room," were inherently dramatic but also unbearably downbeat.

Add to that pictures of a swinging red bulb or a serpentlike creature and the mood starts to take its toll.

Thank goodness for the lovely ballad "Only You," still melodically and lyrically beautiful, and the quintessential club numbers "Don't Go" and "Situation," all of which arrived toward the end of the set. They provided much-needed warmth, a respite from the coldness of the machines – and good reasons to cut loose.

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