Crumb and AMAMA, Live

Crumb is an independent psychedelic pop band consisting of vocalist Lila Ramani, drummer Jonathan Gilad, bassist Jesse Brotter, and saxophonist/pianist Bri Aronow. The band originally met during their time as students at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, and have been steadily releasing music since 2016. Since then, they have relocated to the greater Los Angeles area. 

Crumb’s third studio album, AMAMA, was released on May 17th, 2024. Consisting of 12 tracks, Ramani and her ensemble explore themes of family, identity, and introspection within a 35-minute runtime. The album’s titular track, “AMAMA,” bittersweetly samples Ramani’s grandmother singing a nursery rhyme as an intro to a dreamy, reminiscent ballad. It is apparent that over the past few releases, Ramani has been highlighting her Desi heritage in Crumb’s releases, most notably in tracks like “Up & Down” and “Genie,” where she plays an electric sitar for live performances and incorporates scale intervals from traditional ragas into each composition. 

These delicate touches make a striking impression on listeners who are familiar with the origins of what Ramani is referencing, as it exemplifies how Crumb ventures into a genre-blending realm that not many other artists have, especially for pop. To put it simply, Western artists have largely referenced Indian music since the 1960s, but not in the way Ramani, Brotter, Gilad, and Aronow have. Traditionally, most Western artists go by means of heavy sampling, as seen in “Addictive” by Truth Hurts (which lead to a lawsuit,) or by featuring South Asian artists, like when the Beatles collaborated with classical musician Ravi Shankar. Crumb, on the other hand, avoids appropriation altogether and simply stays true to their roots. Authenticity can and never will be beat, which is why AMAMA is such a beautiful album when listened to in a live setting.

As per usual, Crumb is quite prompt and professional when it comes to playing a show, so an 8:15 curtain call really meant 8:15 for them. There was no Lauryn Hill-level tardiness, Chappell Roan-level entitlement, or Ecco2k-level rowdiness. They are truly one of the most down to earth bands, playing solely for the love of music and citing between songs that “[they] love Texas,” as reasoning for a rare two-song encore. Brotter’s stage presence was intoxicatingly fascinating as usual, despite being a humble bassist. Regardless of their instrument, each musician exhibits palpable sonic chemistry between one another.

During “Cracking,” Aronow’s haunting saxophone solo fills the air to conclude Ramani’s chilling vocal passage. Since its first performance as a demo in 2017, the gossamer beauty of that song in particular has always struck me with awe, and I look forward to its placement on Crumb’s setlists each time. Truly, no matter how many times I’ve seen Crumb, whether it be a leg on their first US tour at Club Dada or a sold out show at The Factory, their ethos has been consistent. This consistency in particular is what I hypothesize to be their main “selling point” to new and seasoned fans. Regardless if one has started listening to Crumb since their 2017 Locket EP, or right when AMAMA dropped earlier this summer, every song of theirs flows beautifully into one another when performed live. While this fact might sound blatantly obvious, such tends to not be the case for a lot of other artists, who are hyperfocused on creating sonically and visually distinct eras within their career, often to the point of becoming walking identity crises. In Crumb’s case for this tour, their setlist weaved between alternating selections from Jinx, Ice Melt, and AMAMA without a painfully obvious tone shift, which was quite refreshing. 

Fans of wider age ranges appear at each successive show, which has also been a fascinating sight. Originally, I’d see a mostly teenage crowd present during Crumb’s earlier tours, but I now bear witness to spectators of ages as old as 70, fully immersing themselves in Ramani’s cool, jazzy vocals. This diversity in viewership could be attributed to Crumb’s timeless sound and captivating stage presence, or maybe their crowd is just incredibly hip, your guess is as good as mine. What I do know for certain is that Crumb has cemented a name for themselves in independent pop music for the past five years, and will likely continue to do so with their impressive discography and performance quality. Indeed, this is the one band whose tours I will consistently make sure to attend, and encourage for others to do so as well.