Introducing the Mimetiks: (a)Live Music

Crowded hipster bars offer too much in the way of cliché with dim lighting and tiny stages. You expect to leave the entirety of the experience there with empty bottles of Brooklyn brewed six dollar pilsners, and awkward convos with would be mistakes. But then to assume the comfort that the Mimetiks display in such mundane settings is somehow related to the mediocrity around them would be the greatest mistake. Like so many high caliber musicians before them, they find success in just the opposite, to transform the moment into something musically remarkable, to make the stage seem larger than it is. The close quarters become something apropos of a shared musical pilgrimage, a movement. The Mimetiks are a retrospective. Not a rehashing of worn out forms but a re-imagining of music that once had soul. It’s like feeding off of something undeniably kinetic. The kind of music that recalls Stevie Wonder in its contours; pays homage to Donnie Hathaway in its depth; and makes you wish D’Angelo didn’t start smoking crack. What the Mimetiks give you is musical dexterity, crossing genres and broad swaths of time, from contemporary soul to classic R&B, all the while keeping their sound distinct. Lead vocalist and pianist Akie Bermiss displays a range that can both gravel and pierce, and can make one song seem like many, often playing with the fluidity of sound in his rendition of standards such as “Blackbird,” or in original material like “Used to Be a Good Day.” Kyle Jaster may appear to be the archetypical “funky white boy” on bass, save for the fact that his talent is anything but cliché. He plays bass the way a person should, supporting the sounds above him, and filling the voids with the bounce that bobs heads and moves waists. Drummer Aaron Steele, has scary talent, playing far beyond his 21 years, showing the ability to smoothly transition from dance licks to ballads, without missing the proverbial beat, all hands and sticks. The Mimetiks are defined by overwhelming stage presence, by a musical persona that swells into crowds. Their ability to move from mood to mood, to respond to the crowds whims, or direct them, is music par excellence, and something to needs to be seen as well as heard. Check out www.hemimetiks.com to get a listen.
-Sha-os