Sean Lennon Creates Spot for His Own Music

Sean Lennon.

His name appeared in small letters on the Roxy marquee Wednesday, beneath headlining act Buffalo Daughter, but for the packed throng, Sean Lennon was definitely the main attraction.

“I’m only here to see Sean because he’s John Lennon’s son,” said 17-year-old Emily Hansen of Eagle Rock, who confessed that she knew nothing about Sean Lennon other than his stellar pedigree. “I wrote Sean a letter just to tell him how happy I am that he’s making music,” she said as she held up an envelope with Lennon’s name scrawled across the top. “I’m just the world’s biggest John Lennon fan!”

She wasn’t alone. The atmosphere was charged with the incessant buzz of Lennon gossip: Would he perform any Beatles songs? Is he feeling the pressure? How closely does his voice resemble his dad’s?

Therein lies the challenge facing Lennon at the outset of his solo career: How do you assert your own creative identity when all anyone sees is the reflected glory of your father?

That may be the reason Lennon chose to creep into town as an opening act for his first L.A. show with a full band. The strategy worked to perfection for him Wednesday, as the 23-year-old Lennon--who looks, and occasionally sings, like his father--appeared relaxed and confident, tossing off casual asides and quips like a seasoned pro.

Musically, it was difficult to find any common ground between his music and his dad’s. While Sean’s primary medium is guitar pop, it’s filtered through a sensibility that’s equally at home with Brian Wilson’s lush, minor-key compositions and the abrasive atonalities of his mother, Yoko Ono.

It made for an appealing combination, as his fragile melodies found room for screaming garage psychedelia, fake swing and electronic squonk. The audience seemed to accept Lennon’s music on its own terms, which bodes well for him when his debut album, “Into the Sun,” is released in May.

Surprisingly, most of the crowd hung around for the Japanese quartet Buffalo Daughter, whose ear-splitting set vacillated between robotic industrial grooves, distorto hard-core and surf punk. Or were the fans merely focused on the door behind the stage, where Lennon was dancing and singing along?