This past Friday Fences, Wildbirds and Peacedrums and headliner St. Vincent played to a sold-out crowd at Neumos in what was a delightful evening of largely unconventional but undeniably talented music making.
So, first, I have to say that Annie Clark of St. Vincent is a terrific musician, but one that I probably wouldn’t have ever truly appreciated if it weren’t for my involvement with Ear Candy. When Travis asked if I would be interested in reviewing the show, I said yes for a number of reasons (primarily because I love going to shows and giving people my unsolicited opinion about music), but also I was looking forward to finally having a reason to really listen to St. Vincent’s music.
For the unfamiliar, in a nutshell, St. Vincent is a classically trained (to at least some degree) musician who was once a member of the Polyphonic Spree as well as Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. She plays music that ranges at times between artsy indie pop rock and abstract contemporary folk. Maybe it is due to the Sufjan connection, but I have always kind of thought of her as something like a weirder version of Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond. Knowing her history, I wasn’t too surprised when the few songs I heard by her seemed quirky to the point of being inaccessible and ultimately failed to really resonate with me. I kind of liked “Now Now,” but I didn’t really get it. “The Strangers” seemed catchy enough, but it wasn’t my thing. I preferred Elliot Smith’s cover so much that I wasn’t able to enjoy her version of “These Days.”
Despite the fact that I wasn’t crazy about anything that I had previously heard from her, I was willing to give her music another chance, because based solely on the merits it seemed as though she would have what takes to be among my favorite artists. She has a beautiful voice, her songs are thoughtfully composed and she is an innovative and skilled guitarist. For whatever reason, however, her songs just never really grabbed me. I have had to work to like many of my favorite musicians, but for some reason I had never been willing to give St. Vincent the effort that I thought she likely warranted.
So, to prepare for the show, for about a week I listened to everything I could find by her. Through the magic of the Internet I was able to find a wide variety of examples of St. Vincent’s music. Album tracks and bootleg recordings, electric and unplugged, solo and with a band, I heard St. Vincent play almost every way imaginable. Her solo stuff, both electric and acoustic, was generally my favorite because it often prominently featured both her voice and skilled guitar work and made her more complicated songs easier to digest. Her plugged-in sets with a band looked like they would make for a fun show, though they appealed to me somewhat less. I went to the show on Friday wondering what type of set she would play.
Seattle’s own Fences was the first opener, and was the most “normal” of bands that played that evening. It is the second time I have seen Fences in recent weeks and I’m quickly becoming a fan. All of their songs are perfectly good, and they have a couple of real stand outs. t’s clear that the local crowd loves them and I wouldn’t be surprised if they become a much larger presence on the national scene in the not-too-distant future.
After Fences cleared the stage at the end of their set, I was surprised to see the next band, with whom I was completely unfamiliar, set up a drum kit, some pedals and a huge steel drum in the center of the stage. This band, Wildbirds and Peacedrums, was certainly the biggest surprise of the evening for a lot of people at the show, myself included. Wildbirds consists of singer Mariam Wellentin, whose diminutive stature belies a very soulful voice, and a drummer, Andreas Werliin – and that’s it. Miriam sang, danced, played the steel drum and a weird series of pedals (I have no idea what they were), and Andreas absolutely held it down with a set that largely amounted to a 45-minute-plus drum solo. Despite the limited line-up, Wildbirds produced an enormous sound that absolutely rocked the crowd at Neumos. It was funny to watch the normally too-cool Seattle crowd kind of lose it by how hard they were getting rocked by Wildbirds. At points during their set, the atmosphere in Neumos almost felt something like I imagine it would feel in a church in the deep south, with the crowd spontaneously hooting and shouting mid-song in appreciation of just how hard Wildbirds was bringing it. It was definitely not how I would have imagined that a Seattle St. Vincent crowd would behave – in a good way. After the set, it seemed like everyone was turning to friends in a moment of “holy-crap-did-you-see-what-I-just-saw?” Wildbirds was one of the best opening bands I have seen in a while, and they were an absolutely perfect fit for this show.
St. Vincent played an electric set with a full band, which given the energy level set by the prior two bands, was probably necessary (as much as I would have loved to see an acoustic St. Vincent). She started with “The Strangers,” and to my surprise, I finally felt like I got it. Seeing it live, I really noticed just how pretty the song itself was, and I wasn’t even slightly put off by the “paint the black hole blacker” refrain (for a change). This experience repeated itself throughout the set. Songs that I previously found seemed unrelatable were enjoyable when I saw her play them live. I loved her cover of “These Days,” and for the first time, I really liked “Marrow.” The band itself was great, and Annie sounded awesome. In contrast to the minimalist Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Annie’s band featured the standard guitar, bass, drum, keyboard line-up as well as a violin, saxophone and a flute. Fortunately, the band was never overpowering and Annie’s crazy guitar playing was featured prominently throughout the set. Whether she was literally hitting the body of her guitar, sliding her hands up and down the fretboard at the speed of a hummingbird or robotically slashing at the strings with jerky, spastic movements, Annie’s guitar work did not disappoint, despite my sky-high expectations.
All in all, the show on Friday was pretty awesome, and after the whole experience I now feel like I have a greater appreciation of St. Vincent. The friend who accompanied me to the show (and who attends concerts nearly as frequently as I do) deemed it to be one of her favorite shows in recent memory. I don’t think that I would go that far, but it was certainly a good show and I feel like the whole experience finally allowed me to appreciate an artist that might have otherwise escaped my attention, which is always a good thing.
*** S. Lewis contributes to Ear Candy on a regular basis. He can be reached on his Twitter page.
