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| Date |
City |
Venue |
| Sat 7/26/08 |
Seattle, WA |
Capitol Hill Block Party |
| Sat 8/2/08 |
Happy Valley, OR |
Pickathon 2008 |
| Sun 8/3/08 |
Happy Valley, OR |
Pickathon 2008 |
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Here
is the mystery of Seattle's Cave Singers: They never listened
to much folk music, they never intended to play folk music,
and more importantly, their guitarist never picked up the instrument
until recently. Yet, this strange trio is writing and performing
some of the most hypnotizing folk music we have today.
One listen to Invitation Songs, however, and you're ready to
call bullshit on them. It sounds like an updated version of
the Anthology of American Folk Music. Not the graduate-student,
learned interpretations of folk music circa 1962, but folk music
approached by way of punk rock. It's sparse, melodic, creepy,
and alluring, like the widow mourning graveside in Johnny Cash's
"Long Black Veil". Guitarist Derek Fudesco's bottom-end
acoustic work sounds like Mississippi John Hurt's soft, rolling
finger plucks. Singer Pete Quirk's appealingly nasal voice simultaneously
echoes Arlo Guthrie and a mosquito's buzz. And drummer Marty
Lund plays like he's slapping a newspaper on a kitchen table.
Though Quirk spent time in Seattle post-punk group Hint Hint,
Lund in Cobra High, and Fudesco as bassist for Pretty Girls
Make Graves and the legendary Murder City Devils, maybe they've
been folk artists all along and we just haven't been open to
the idea.
The band maintains that they never made a conscious effort to
play a certain 'style' of music, and that, besides the odd Dylan
record, their favorite bands are still the Replacements, the
Pixies, Fleetwood Mac. With that in mind, I do believe it was
Big Bill Broonzy who quipped: "All music is folk music."
Invitation Songs is the Cave Singers' debut. It was recorded
in Vancouver, British Columbia by Colin Stewart (PGMG, Black
Mountain), and its title is appropriate; it is one of the warmest
and most welcoming records of 2007. Each track is coated in
a dense atmosphere that feels humid but not stifling. The shuffle-stomp
rhythms on "Seeds of Night" and "Dancing on our
Graves" recall Civil War marches, highlighting Lund's innate
abilities. Elsewhere, on "Royal Lawns" harmonicas
sigh and echo back like ghosts in abandoned railway cars. The
brooding, washboard-driven "Called" is kin to Ugly
Casanova's chain-gang musings, and Quirk's mid-song yelps don't
sound planned, but rather like the ultimate summoning of his
inner turmoil.
"Helen", a classic tale of a long lost lover ("Helen,
you're eyes are frozen in my brain"), employs a wavering
synth to create a Martian blues vibe. On the rustic rock-flavored
"Oh Christine", another strummy song of a love just
out of reach, Quirk takes on an almost jazz-poet tone. "I
saw you smoking in the bar just the other night/If I saw you
right...I saw you drinking in the bar just the other day/And
what's that I heard you say?" Nothing fancy, but he sings
as if he is conjuring memories so personal he has to force them
through his pinched teeth.
You see, the Cave Singers' music demands attention. You'll throw
this record on, maybe in the morning while you're getting ready
for work. Then, in the middle of the day, one of Quirk's lyrics
or Fudesco's riffs will pop into your head, the way a Townes
Van Zandt song does. You won't be able to shake it. You'll go
home and listen to it again. Pretty soon, Invitation Songs will
have worked its way into your subconscious and become the soundtrack
to this moment in your life. Invitation Songs will remain a
part of you forever.
--Brian J. Barr, Seattle, Washington |
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Invitation
Songs
Matador Records
2007 |
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