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Café Du Nord April 4, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas After a whole week of shows, going out on a Sunday and missing the Sopranos didn’t seem like the best idea. But the ticket was bought, and my laziness is only overshadowed by my cheapness and unwillingness to waste something I already paid for. Well, I couldn’t have been any happier that I actually made it out. The main reason I was going to this show was to see the first band, Okkervil River. One of my best friends burned me a copy of their newer CD over Christmas and I was intrigued with their sound. It didn’t strike me as amazing, but made me interested enough that I wanted to see what it sounded like live. I think they had just started as I walked into the band room, it was a slower number that had the audience in a hushed awe (a quiet and reverent audience at a mellow show such as this is always a good sign). The singer for Okkervil River will never be confused for having a great voice, but not unlike Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, the emotion he carries in it tells a much greater story than any pretty-singing doofus ever could. And the NMH comparison holds to the general music and mood of Okkervil River – although it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what they sound like, I would guess Mangum and company would be a good base. Throw in a bit of Bright Eyes and some Appalachian folk songs, and you have a winning combination the really caught my ear. Perhaps the two best songs they played all night were the final two, “Kansas City” and “Okkervil River Song”, both from their debut album “Don’t Fall in Love with Everyone You See”. I enjoyed it so much that I went to the merch table and bought a copy of that first disc, and have the full intentions of re-listening to their newer one to see if it fares better with my tastes this go around – I have a feeling it will. To be quite honest, and as much as I like Azure Ray, I was ready to go home after that. Honestly, there was no way anyone was going to be better than them, I felt I’d gotten my money’s worth from that performance, and my laziness was starting to get the better of me. I opted to stick around for a few songs by The Elected, an enjoyable, twangy outfit fronted by Blake Sennett, most widely known for his work in Rilo Kiley. It was good, but not enough so to keep me there more than 5 or 6 songs. They started out with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire”, with Blake singing the part through some rigged up microphone/fireman’s mask combo. Their music reminded me of a toned down version of Beachwood Sparks with a little Tom Waits oddity thrown in, but not nearly as engaging to me as either of those artists. That said, I’d be interested in hearing the album they recently released; their show, or what I saw of it, was good enough to peak my curiosity. |