I hadn't been to a live show in over a month - not since Real Estate back on July 12. Since that time, I've generally been working too hard, including my little solo working tour of New England, and it was time for a break. Besides, I also needed to test out my new camera before my big upcoming trip, so I took advantage of an appearance at The Earl by Ben Chasny, who performs under the name Six Organs of Admittance, to hear some great music, test out my new camera under The Earl's challenging light conditions, and to enjoy a delicious Earl Burger.
The evening began with a revelatory set by Peg Simone, who performs solo, singing and playing blues slide guitar with repeater and pedal effects to create extremely cinematic narratives based on stories by Holly Anderson. Hypnotic sequences of intricately woven patterns and rhythms with voice-over narration are interrupted by squealing storms of feedback where dramatically appropriate. Simone is a great entertainer from whom I hope to hear more.
Simone was followed by folksinger Donovan Quinn. Quinn has been traveling with Chasny on this tour, who sat in on quite a few songs to accompany him and provide some fill to the classic folk structures of his music.
Six Organs of Admittance took the stage a little after 11:30 and played a set of his fascinating music, opening with the moody Shelter From the Ash. Ben Chasny pulls more sound out of a six-string guitar that one would think possible, playing in a raga-esque style in the tradition of John Fahey and Bert Jansch, complete with alternative tunings and open chords. I'm not a guitarist and can't explain a lot of how he does what he does, but the man clearly does not need a band to hold an audience's attention.
Which brings me to my final point. It was disappointing to see such a small turnout as the crowd that came to tonight's show. The show even got a top listing in Creative Loafing's "Five Things To Do Today," but the good people of Atlanta must have found the next four listings more compelling. At the height of the tonight's performance, I counted only 31 persons in the audience, and I think my head count included Donovan Quinn and more than one employee of The Earl. I always knew my taste in music was a minority one, and I'm comfortable supporting bands that most other people don't even know exist, but I feel bad for the working musician when so few people turn out for a road gig in a major metropolitan city on a Saturday night.
On a more positive note, my camera seems to work well under low-light conditions. Only the picture at the top of this post used a flash.
No comments:
Post a Comment