Photo by Barry Yanowitz*  

I had the lovely privelage the other night to catch one of my favorite bands at the Bowery Ballroom for a show that would go down forever as one of my favorite holiday moments.  I was also exposed to a very good new Sub-Pop act that I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for.  Please, my friends, read on. 

Death Vessel:  For those of you unaware (probably most of us), Death Vessel is the solo project of Joel Thibodeau, a gentleman based in Brooklyn, NY who performs a gentle folk with a slight southern twang to it. His first album came out a year and a half ago on Sub-Pop, though it was recorded independently much earlier. I had heard little to nothing of him before the show so I was pretty shocked when he started singing and I had to re-evaluate his gender, which I had assumed was male until I heard his upper octave vocal range. Interestingly, he’s not hitting these notes in the Chris Carrabba, veins popping, voice straining, belt-out style; Joel (pronounced Jo-elle,) graces these high pitches effortlessly, his voice soft but not fragile, steadfast in its meekness. Once he spoke it was revealed that his speaking tone is that of your average young man, further demonstrating the impressiveness of his ability. His songwriting was interesting and soothing, though I couldn’t grasp a lot of the lyrics due to sound issues. Overall he has a really interesting sound and I plan to check out his album and follow him up on his future work. It’s not exactly your run-of-the-mill singer songwriter mold, so I’d definitely recommend giving him a listen.

Low: These guys have been at the game a long time, thirteen years specifically, and as they’re relatively well known, I won’t spend long describing their sound. They play really mellow minimalist indie-rock very specific to them, and for anything else concerning history or description I suggest you check out their wikipedia article.  Their new album Drums and Guns drops March 20th on Sub-Pop so I was hopeful I would be able to hear some new tracks on top of all my old favorites. Well I got half my wish, and then much more. Low came out, one guitar, one bass, two drums and a cymbal, and then began. The first song was new, and it was really good. Then the next song was new, and it was fantastic. Then it turned out the first six songs were all brand new songs and they were wonderful. They back off a little from the “big sound” that their last full length The Great Destroyer had but without regressing back to the old sound. Rather, they make use of recorded vocal loops and drum machines, new territory of guitar effects and more interesting lines and rhythms, expanding their sound while still holding true to their trademark “minimalism.” The vocals are gorgeous and get wrapped up in the loops and the guitar parts (more intricate than the 3 chord progressions of the past) to create a subtle beauty that rivals the best songs on Things We Lost in the Fire.
Low then followed these 6 debuts with a Christmas song, which wasn’t really a shocker since it was December and New York goes pretty Yuletide crazy around this time. They then brought out their “friends” (I honestly don’t know who they were but there were about 10 of them, playing violins, drums, steal guitars, keyboards, accordions, etc.) and serenaded us with another Christmas tune. This wasn’t too surprising as it cheered up a lot of the crowd and they do, in fact, have a Christmas album. And then the friends stayed on and they played another xmas tune. And then 15 more. Some originals, some covers, but after the intro tunes this was a straight up Christmas show that was NOT billed as such. Now, as they were done in mostly in perfect Low style of gentle mellow beauty, I wasn’t bothered by this, but that was NOT the case for a good bit of the crowd. While a lot of us just joined in the fun, singing a long, swaying back and forth, enjoying the camaraderie of it all, unrest was developing and after the show I was walking next to a lot of really disappointed people who wanted to hear “Sunflower” and “Dinosaur Act.” I can’t say I wasn’t hoping for those too, but it was so much fun I didn’t really care. I’m a sucker for Christmas spirit and this felt like one giant family Christmas party minus the unspoken familial tension and your weird uncle Albert who’s had too much eggnog and smells like a beaver. The musicianship was still solid as ever, and the cover of “Happy Christmas/War is Over” by Lennon and Ono turned into a warm hearted optimistic sing-along that made me a bit puffy eyed in the best way possible.

At the end of the night I had nothing but wonderful things to say about this show. Their new album looks to be one of their best ever and I got to take part in a wonderful holiday experience. I can’t recommend strongly enough that you pick up Drums and Guns on March 20th and I’d also suggest picking up some of their back catalog if you’re unfamiliar (Things We Lost in the Fire is a personal favorite). I haven’t heard their Christmas album, but I plan to get it so that my 2007 holiday season will find me smiling as largely as I was from start to finish of this joyous concert.

Low Set-List:

New Song: “Nieces and Nephews”
New Song: “Take my Side”
New Song: “There’s got to be an end”
New Song: “Dragonfly Pills”
New Song: “Take Your Time”
New Song: “The Violent Path”
Long Way Around
Just Like Christmas
Taking Down the Tree
For Shame of Doing Wrong (Cover)
If You Were Born Today
“Santa’s comin’ over”
“Every Knee Shall Bow”
Blue Christmas (Elvis Cover)
Happy Christmas, War is Over (John Lennon/Yoko Ono cover)

Encore:

Last Snowstorm of the Year
Little Drummer Boy

*To view more of Barry’s work, check out his portfolio or his flickr .

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 11:43 pm and is filed under SHOWS/EVENTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.