Review: Young Lovers and Zeinapur Inspire the Soul at Final "Alphabet Soup" 2024 Series

Safe Travels Presents and The Witching Hours recently finished up their 2024 series: Alphabet Soup. It started off at the Resident and shifted to Non Plus Ultra for the last handful of shows. From my count, I went to a total of 11 of the 23 shows - specifically A, F, G, J, L, M, P, R, S, T, Y/Z. (There are 26 alphabets, but the later alphabets got combined.) There were shows where I came across a new favorite like Madeleine Mayi. There were shows where it felt like I knew most of the people in the crowd: nights featuring Fuss and Julez and the Rollerz. There were other times where I caught up with a band that I had not seen in a few years such as Le Pain. I even feel like I had input on one night. An Instagram stories went out asking for any band names that started with a Q and I tossed out Qyburn. The band got booked. Unfortunately, I was unable to make that night. And there were definitely a couple nights where I wanted to support the bands I love, but had conflicting priorities.

Zeinapur at Non Plus Ultra

All good things must eventually come to an end and Alphabet Soup eventually hit Y and Z. Representing those alphabets were Young Lovers and Zeinapur. Non Plus Ultra was packed for the night. Honestly, I don't recall seeing an Alphabet Soup night packed like this one. I'm sure that Non Plus Ultra was near capacity. No doubt it was driven by the bands that were booked, but also due to it being the final night of the series. 

Zeinapur at Non Plus Ultra

Up first for the night was Zeinapur. I had the opportunity to interview the band back in 2023 when I first saw them at the Goldfish. By coincidence, that is also the night that I came across Qyburn. I got to interview the lead singer and keyboardist Roskana Zeinapur at the time. Here's a portion of the interview: 

"We are an opera singer (Roksana Zeinapur) and rock guitarist (David Labovitch) duo, originally formed in the 2020. I (Roksana)  approached David with an idea of making a record of ambient meditation music featuring floating operating vocals and guitar. In the process of working we started dating, and then quarantine happened and we decided to go a completely different direction and started writing and recording the music for what became this project while in quarantine. We released our debut EP Everything Is Yours in 2021, 5 singles in 2022 and are working on releasing an album this fall." 

They did release that album and it is called Only Love Remains. She said the following during their set, "This album is very personal and was very challenging to work on. It is dedicated to David's nephew who passed away unexpectedly in 2021."

Perhaps my favorite song of their set was the instrumental "Lacrimosa." She said of the song, "Lacrimosa is actually a movement of the Catholic requiem, which is the service to the dead . . . I wanted to do something to give respect to that part of my musical heritage . . . . we wanted a modern Lacrimosa." The song is a beautifully played piece that puts you into a moment of thoughtful reflection.

Up next was Young Lovers. I saw this band way back in 2015 at another DIY venue (long since closed even before the start of the pandemic) called Pehrspace. The one thing I remember about that venue is that between sets everyone would hang out in the parking lot, because it was so packed inside. People loved that venue. Here's what I wrote about the band at the time:

Young Lovers at Non Plus Ultra

"Young Lovers was having a residency at Pehrspace. They're a post-rock band that mainly focuses in on their sound. There were a couple songs with vocals, but those were more ingrained within the music versus standing out front. I also believe that the members in the band also help run sound at Pehrspace. No one could really help them out with sound on this night, but it all worked out well for them. A great set."

Young Lovers at Non Plus Ultra

I saw them once again in 2018 when I was covering Echo Park Rising for Buzzbands. I wrote a brief description, "Some symphonic space music there."

I didn't catch up with the band again until early 2024 when I saw them at Zebulon. I saw them shortly thereafter at Permanent Records Roadhouse. Then fast forward to December 2024 and I got to see them close out the Alphabet Soup series. 

Young Lovers at Non Plus Ultra

The atmospheric set had a barely a word spoken for half the set. One of those instrumental songs was the finely crafted "Omnia" that lingers in the air for over 5 minutes. When there was singing, the vocals were barely audible and blended in with the music. Maybe the most well received song of the set was a cover of Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson's "Christmas Time Is Here" for the CBS television special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Their last song had video clips of Before Sunset playing on the back wall of the venue. Wow. 

Their set was 50 minutes long and I doubt anyone minded the fact that it went 20 minutes beyond the standard 30 minutes for a Los Angeles club show. In fact, the crowd wanted it to last longer with yells for an encore. There was a bit of an awkward stance by lead singer-guitarist Jonathan Higa before he said, "There's a donation box outside. Patrick [Safe Travels Presents] made me say that."

And it has to be mentioned, because I notice things like this: sometimes Higa wore his glasses and sometimes he removed his glasses. I couldn't figure out if there was a pattern. Also, I always saw him put on his glasses, but never noticed him removing his glasses -- magician.