Hundred Waters at The Earl, Atlanta, October 10, 2017

This is not our complaint: the doors at The Earl opened for Hundred Waters' show Tuesday night at 8:00, and the show itself started a little after 9:00.  We're not complaining, but it makes for a long evening on a weeknight for those us us lucky enough to have a job.  

And we're certainly not complaining about the opener, North Carolina's Kelsey Lu.  She took the stage to a taped recording of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's 1970 composition Certain Blacks (a song we didn't discover until 1979 or so) and started her set by accompanying the AEoC with a little atonal cello bowing.  But soon, some tonality emerged and then later, rhythm, as she began plucking the strings and using a repeat pedal to build up layers of loops.  Only after a good while of this did she begin singing, and we certainly didn't expect the strength or the beauty of her voice.  It was only today that we learned that her opening piece was in fact the composition Dreams from her album Church.     

We are amazed by this woman's voice, by her art, and by her music.  She had no backing musicians and her entire set consisted of just her alone on stage, singing and accompanied only by her own cello and occasional electric guitar.  It was simultaneously both austere and majestic.  Best new discovery of 2017, by far.  Check out her music and buy her records - you'll thank us later.

We have a feeling we'll be blogging about Kelsey Lu a lot in the upcoming months or years, so her opening set is most definitely not anything we're complaining about.

This was probably our fifth or sixth time seeing Hundred Waters, after previous sets at The Earl and 529 and opening for Alt-J, and the band has changed over the years.  At 529 back in 2012, they were a quintet, and by the time they got around to their Earl sets, they were down to a quartet.  We've been listening to their latest album, Communicating, and their sound is now less about the lush textures and harmonic interplay of the various band members, and more focussed on the electric piano and singing of frontwoman Nicole Miglis.  So it was not surprising that they're now down to a trio - just Nicole singing and on piano, one synth to provide the signature sounds on some of their older songs and some bass and texture for the newer, and a drummer.  It's a different sound for them, to be sure, but it's still more than recognizable as Hundred Waters and we're not complaining about that, as it's a good sound and we'll never begrudge creative musicians the freedom to explore different sounds, or a working band to cut their costs by trimming their touring act down to the bare essentials.

Unfortunately, Nicole's voice, which is whispery and seductive at it's best moments, was quite weak, and she seemed to be really struggling against voice loss and to sing.  She even swallowed her own words during an attempt at stage banter and wound up just smiling at the audience and returning to her keyboard.  And we're certainly not complaining about that, either, as she's a professional entertainer and despite whatever cold or sore throat or too much time on the road was dogging her, she made the best of the instrument she had, however limited, and still performed a good set.

So, okay, we're not complaining about the show times or the opening act or the changes to Hundred Waters' sound, or the condition of Nicole Miglis' voice, but there were two drunk girls standing behind us during Hundred Waters' set.  They were obviously fans, but when they weren't constantly hollering their approval and adoration of the band or just talking loudly to each other during the set, they were "singing" along to the songs, loudly and off-key, often right in our ears.  This went on even during the quiet moments of Hundred Waters' set, of which there are many, and as it was, Nicole was struggling enough to make her voice heard anyway without having to compete with drunken white trash in the process.  During the song Murmurs, when Nicole sings "Yesterday was your birthday - Happy Birthday" (1:37 mark above), naturally, the two girls responded with cheers of "Woo-Hoo!," "Yeah, Birthday!" and, of course, "Happy Birthday!," totally missing the poignancy of that particular lyric (she's admitting she missed the subject's birthday and is compensating with a belated wish).  The drunk girls also fell down against us a few times, spilled drinks on us, and generally just ruined the show, oblivious to those around them as they kept others from enjoying the show. 

I know this makes us sound like cranky old folks shouting "Keep off our lawn" at some young people, but damn it, they really did ruin the show for us and everyone else, and THAT is our complaint. 

But we did discover Kelsey Lu, so that's good.