Thanks to the radio success of its song "Prophecy," Remy Zero drew a jostling horde of fans, music industry types and artists such as Foo Fighters' Pat Smear and Live's Ed Kowalczyk to its performance at the Troubadour in Hollywood on Thursday. It was the kind of buzzing crowd that expected to be dazzled, but Remy Zero's music was so wispy and unassuming that it seemed to vaporize upon impact.
     Like its most obvious forebears in Radiohead, Remy Zero relies heavily on moody musical ambience. Its tempos gallop along at a stately clip, and its melodies swirl around frontman Cinjun Tate's keening vocals, which are strongly reminiscent of Radiohead's Thom Yorke.
     Lyrically, the band swings from lovelorn anthems to vaguely metaphysical musings that are too obtuse by half. Unfortunately, Remy Zero's studied wistfulness devolved into tediousness fairly early into the band's set. In attempting to replicate some of the plush soundscapes of its "Villa Elaine" album, Remy Zero failed to hold its focus and wound up lumbering through much of its material.
     Great live bands calibrate their approach depending on the context of the performance, yet Remy Zero stuck to its guns by trying to draw an overcrowded room into its camp without resorting to raw power. But sometimes even the quietest bands have to throw a little muscle around to make a lasting impression.