The band is the long standing dream of front man Jim Doutrich, a dream fully realized only a little over a year ago when the band’s current lineup finally fell into place and started getting serious about making music. Ennui is currently composed of Jim Doutrich, putting his fingers to the keys and his lips to the mike, Christopher McDonald on drums, Tori Fulkerson on bass and Dan Burgun filling in the empty spaces on lead guitar.

      However, none of the band’s members confine themselves to one instrument. Even during the performance, Burgun occasionally let his guitar hang at his waist and put his fingers to the keys. And Doutrich, in turn, sat back from his piano to bang out several chords on the guitar.

      The night proved to be a disappointing turn out. But despite this, Ennui’s performance was anything but disappointing. They opened the set filling the bar with the ethereal sound of keyboards and laptop, perfecting the transcendental experience of Echoes’ Living Room Classics. But then they went in another direction entirely.

      Mixing melancholy with angst, Doutrich began to pound out a few jazzy chords on the piano complimented by Burgan’s experimental noise guitar. And Fulkerson picked up the low end with a simple, but funky bass line. Her contentment with simplicity demonstrates that she, unlike many bass players these days, has the maturity to recognize that silence is much more powerful than pounding out as many notes as possible.

      The show went forward from there, McDonald causing a ruckus on the drums, Burgun pulling noises never heard before out of his guitar and Doutrich overlaying it all with the melancholy vibrations of his voice, speaking to the crowd as much through the melody as the lyrics. By the end of the set, the crowd had completely forgotten their sadness at leaving behind the Memorial Day beaches and were only lamenting that the show was over and there were only two hours left until closing time.

      Ennui showed themselves to be not only accomplished musicians, but also proven performers. Though the crowd seemed less than listless with post-holiday boredom, Ennui nevertheless came on strong, overcoming the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm with the energy of their performance. The music is impressive in itself, but it is the passion with which Ennui plays that makes them truly engaging.

      Comparable to bands such as Radiohead, Coldplay and Lovedrug, Ennui brings their own to what has already been done for a sound that’s definitely worth checking out. You can find their new five song ep, Inchoate, online at www.ennuimusic.com.

-Nathan Weaver 06/01/05