Uh Huh Her at Slims

The illusive Camilla Grey - photo by chuck jones

Leisha Haley  - photo by chuck jones

Uh Huh Her at Slims - photo by chuck jones

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Uh Huh Her at Slims - photo by chuck jones

The electronic indie pop duo Uh huh Her recently came through San Francisco headlining the first ever Keep A BREAST music tour.  Stopping in at Slims on their twenty stop tour promoting breast cancer prevention and awareness, Leisha Hailey (keyboards, bass, and vocals) and Camila Grey (keyboards, guitar, and vocals) finally climbed onto the stage to a crowd that was simply waiting en mass on the dance floor for them to appear.  A guest speaker, a long wait; a video abaout breast cancer, a long wait.  Finally!  Uh Huh Her took the stage, said hello, and started playing.

Good energy. Balanced harmonies. Great songs. The guitar player, quite a performer, played his guitar down around his knees with impressive virtuosity and never missed a note.  Drummer Bobby Alt was loud and solid.  He and the unnamed guitar player ably backed the duo and added much to the stage show.  However, it was the ladies the crowd came to see.  Uh Huh Her .   Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey.  Their harmonies and songs mesmerized an audience mostly made up of folks in their 20’s to 40’s, but also with a fair number of men and woman in their 50’s and 60’s.

Two laptops provided the rich electronic color the duo is famous for.  The performance was delicious, but no one danced.  The audience collectively stood on the dance floor and watched.   I asked around after the show if this was the norm.  I was told that Uh Huh Her audiences always seem strangely sedate even though the music is rocking.  I noted that the bass parts do not rock.  Leisha Hailey’s bass playing lacks the virtuosity demonstrated by Camila Grey and the accompanying musicians.  It’s the groove of a bass that gets a crowd dancing; it’s the only thing Uh Huh Her is lacking.  But then again, maybe they don’t want to be just another dance band.

The ladies did not play in close proximity so there is not much in the way of on stage chemistry between them.  But still the audience just watched. The endings were always crispy clean and the applause enthusiastic.  The harmonies—ah, the harmonies.  Passion was there in operatic type energy although the words could not be understood; probably because the reverb was high.  The best song all evening was when Leisha Hailey played keys instead of bass and focused on her voice—then magic happened.  Then the crowd swayed to the music.   Some began to dance.  It was the best musical moment in the evening.

Uh Huh Her is a relatively new group that started their career playing along with electronic backing on an ipod.  Their music is truly artistic in that it doesn’t fit any preconceived mold in style.  They have magic in their song writing.  Since adding a backing band their music has gone in a pop direction and they have acquired a solid and loyal fan base.  They might send it further that way if they added a dynamo bass player to the mix, and focused on the magic of their blended voices.

My musical opinion aside, the crowd was enthusiastic.  The applause long and Uh Huh Her did grace us with an encore.  Do check out Uh Huh Her when they come back to The Bay Are.  We hope that is soon.