Thee More Shallows / Vetiver
Hemlock Tavern
November 8, 2002
Review by Jake Thomas
Man, I really love being surprised at shows. It doesn't happen all that often anymore, considering the amount of music I've listened to up to this point in my life. Not that I'm any expert, mind you, but I think you get my drift. As you get older, you start hearing a lot of bands doing a lot of the same things. Maybe that's why the more original stuff hits me as hard as it does, because it stands so out so well from the rest of the rabble.
Vetiver. They blew me away. I had never heard anything by them, heard anything about them...in other words, I didn't know shit about shit. But it was a Playing in Fog show, and I had never even been to one of these monthly showcases at The Hemmy. Put another notch in the rifle butt, cause Daz had put together a real humdinger of a show. Somehow she's always way on top of things when it comes to good new local bands that follow along the broad guideline of "slowcore," or whatever term you like. Around these parts it's been given the name "Dazcore," for reasons both obvious and unexplainable.
Oh yeah, I was talking about Vetiver's show. Anyway, they were amazing. I would probably throw them under the classification of Americana, but that's only because I can't really pigeon-hole their sound. The band has three members - violin dude, cello girl, and guitar playing singer, who was also a guy. The music made me think of some weird mix of Nico and Rufus Wainwright, only the voice was a little less mannish than Nico, and not quite as flamboyant and over the top as Rufus. And if you think that's the dumbest band description you've ever heard, read some of my other reviews and you'll realize just how strangely my brain places different types of music together. Anyway, a lot of the guitar playing was finger picked rather than strummed, giving it a little delta blues, depression-era, old-timey feel. Anytime I hear finger picking, I always think of Crooked Fingers, but that might be a little bit of a stretch even for me. I was enamored with them during their entire performance. The only thing that bummed me out was that they didn't have anything to buy and listen to. Hopefully they are recording now or will be soon, because I'll be on that like a tagger on a freshly painted wall.
As if that weren't enough, then Thee More Shallows came out and put on a damn fine show too. It was pretty crowded earlier, but now it was a packed house for these guys. I've listened to their album some while gumming some nubbins, and I dig it. Makes me think of Grandaddy a little bit, but doesn't sound like them. Not keyboardy enough. Live, they reminded me of a less country version of Lambchop, and maybe a little spookier too. Too bad they don't have a song called "Soaky in the Pooper," or that comparison could really grow some legs and fly.
The vocals were mostly spoken rather than sung, and the singer had a metal case with some sort of a decal of a pig on it. Inside, hidden from most people's view, was a keyboard and possibly other gadgetry that he kept messing with a la Jonny Greenwood. The guy wins PiF's "Most Creative Use of Nine Volt Battery" prize for when he held this super long note during "The Perfect Map" by placing a nine volt on the key and then switching to guitar. The battery had been painted white -- perhaps to prevent its misuse as an actual battery? This is but one of the many wonderful mysteries of Thee More Shallows. It should be noted that the singer reminded me of the character "Bug" from the movie "Uncle Buck," not that there is anything wrong with that. Noted even further that this is a highly underrated John Hughes film that I love. John Candy is awesome and dearly missed in my heart, and that Macaulay Culkin kid is good in the movie, even though he looks like a crack addict nowadays. Why do I mention all this? No reason, but I just watched this movie recently, and remembered how much I like it. You should really celebrate John Candy's entire catalog of films, not many misses in there as far as I'm concerned.
OK, so the bottom line is -
1. Vetiver - amazing. Do what you can to see them.
2. Thee More Shallows - hot damn. Make sure to check out their current release "A History of Sport Fishing." A fine night of music.
3. Watch more John Candy movies.
PS: It should be noted that Thee More Shallows also wins the #1 spot on Daz' Top Ten Records of 2002.
Vetiver
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Thee More Shallows
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