Last night Andy, Dave and I stopped by Mercury Lounge to check out The Cave Singers from Seattle, WA at Mercury. I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who wanted to go, but after successfully guilting A+D into going, it was a decent show.
I think that there is a lot of subtly in their music, in the gentle crooning effect of lead singer's voice. One thing that stands out to me about this particular group of indie folksters is the sense of intimacy in their music in relation to the blanket privacy of their public profile. One might argue that they are a relatively unknown band, and thus, really don't have much of a public profile. Their myspace page doesn't seem to list their names anywhere obvious, and their blog is a photo journal. This is particularly intriguing because there are no captions. There is a brief youtube video of an interview with them which provides the most insight. In the interview they mention that they became roommates and then formed a band around the instruments that they had (including my personal fave, the Melodica, thanks Andrew). In the video they play a song, and confirm exactly what I had suspected: there is one good guitarist, one good singer, and then of course the mystery 3rd guy.
So the concert: I think that they are excellent live, but especially when they are performing some of their more intense music. I really got into "Seeds of Night", "Dacing on Our Graves" and "Oh Christine". I'm sorry, but I just need to be inspired to dance to fully appreciate a concert. I have a hard time with really slow, calm music live. I struggled through Phosphorescent, even though he is awesome, and even at times, I had a hard time with Bon Iver. The depth of their sound was sort of what surprised me, I had expected more, but it was a little bit flat sometimes. I don't mean to say that I was disappointed, but I had really hoped that they would be more live than they are in recording. I am driven lately by really strong percussive sounds, and I felt that it was more singing/guitar heavy. Losing sight of the foundation of their awesome beats and somewhat dissonant sounds surprised me. I would still see them again, but I think they need a bigger, more voluminous venue. I think that they just didn't resonate enough at Mercury Lounge, I refuse to believe that their records are the best of their work. My criteria for good concert going includes having something more to offer from than just the recording, and I'm afraid that this didn't quite make the cut. That said, it was still awesome.
Discuss.
<3 The Elephant
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