Who: Nico MuhlyWhere: The Triple DoorWhen: Thursday, August 14The Triple Door was made for music like Nico Muhly’s. I made it to the club just as Muhly, a New York-based composer, was introducing a viola-based piece he wrote for Nadia Sirota to play. It was called “Keep In Touch” and every rusty scrape of her bow across the strings made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up (in a good way, of course) The piece, at first, featured just Sirota on viola, but soon Muhly entered with a layer of electronics that added a crispness to the overall warmth of her playing. The song eventually built to dramatic heights with bells and echoes and a vocal sample that could very well have been that of Antony for all of its operatic flair (anyone out there know for sure?). Hearing an instrument as lush as the viola in a room like the Triple Door is about as nourishing a listening experience I can imagine. It’s no wonder I walked away from the show feeling that Sirota’s performances were the best of the night. Last night’s show was part of something called the 802 Tour, which not only featured Muhly and Sirota, but also the ethereal folk-pop group Doveman, and folk singer Sam Amidon. The show was made up largely of collaborations between all five musicians on the stage, such as everyone backing up Amidon on his renditions of creepy American folk classics. But I found myself mostly engaged when the stage was commanded by either Sirota or Muhly. Muhly, clad in a black cloak-like garment, spun on his bench like a mad scientist, switching between playing piano or keyboard or laptop (whichever the song called for) and/or offering up a little background info on what was about to be played. His two solo piano numbers were the other highlights of the night for me. His first, “A Hudson Cycle”, was an autumn-stroll-through-the-park-type piece, which, he explained, was written for a couple he knew who got married and moved to Boston (“like, the worst thing you could do, in my mind”). The second, titled “Skipped Town” was written for yet another couple who had moved away. This number was, as he explained, “slightly angrier” and the notes he pounded out evoked images of emotional tantrums, of storming through his apartment throwing out anything that reminded him of the couple. Muhly performed stiff shouldered, head thrown back and eyes staring off wildly at some point on the ceiling. I’ve heard a handful of people question or poke fun at the Triple Door over the years (because they’d rather see live music in dank shitholes, I guess). But a performance like last night’s is all the proof one need’s of the Triple Door’s validity. The sound was rich and deep and full and called for a relaxing environment to soak it all in. It’s a listening room, essentially, and the individual performances of Muhly and Sirota called for the audience to do just that…sit back and listen.