Texas-based art-rock band Loma played The Earl last Thursday night, but as is our custom, we'll manage our enthusiasm and discuss the opening act first.
We thought Jess Williamson was going to be a solo act, some sort of acoustic indie-folk singer-songwriter. Of course, that was just an assumption, as we've never heard her or heard of her before. But she took the stage with a full band and launched right in with a slightly droning rock song reminiscent of Velvet Underground that was pleasantly louder than we were expecting.
After that, she covered a lot of ground in her set, ranging from some relatively straight-forward rock to some country-folk songs and even some heart-felt folk ballads. It was a nice set and a good start to the evening. Here's a taste of Jess' music, from her upcoming LP Cosmic Wink:
We thought Jess Williamson was going to be a solo act, some sort of acoustic indie-folk singer-songwriter. Of course, that was just an assumption, as we've never heard her or heard of her before. But she took the stage with a full band and launched right in with a slightly droning rock song reminiscent of Velvet Underground that was pleasantly louder than we were expecting.
After that, she covered a lot of ground in her set, ranging from some relatively straight-forward rock to some country-folk songs and even some heart-felt folk ballads. It was a nice set and a good start to the evening. Here's a taste of Jess' music, from her upcoming LP Cosmic Wink:
Loma is Jonathan Meiburg from the band Shearwater and Emily Cross and Dan Duszinsky who perform together as Cross Record. Apparently, Cross Record toured last year in support of Shearwater and somewhere on the road they made a pact to start their own mutual band. We're big fans of Shearwater and would probably follow anything Meiburg does but this project, Loma, is truly something special and worthy, and Loma delivered the goods to a sparse audience at The Earl.
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The music was ethereal and hard to describe (a sample video is below). "Art-rock" is about the only label we can come up with for their sound and it might be apt, as Emily Cross even sketched at an easel a little bit during the set. I don't want to criticize the spontaneous product of her drawing - it's about the performance and not the product. You try going on stage and lead a band through a full set, with your mom and Jonathan Meiburg's mom both in attendance (mothers of the band must have comprised about 10% of the audience that night), and try to do better.
We've seen this before We've seen Joseph Arthur complete a painting on stage during his set at Eddie's Attic, and we've seen Nils Cline accompanied by an on-stage painter performing as a member of the band, so we're not surprised to see Cross turn her attention to the easel during the set. And Emily not only sang and painted, she also danced during the instrumental passage of their song Relay Runner.
Anyway, it was a wonderfuls set of very original and ethereal music, and we strongly suggest that if you haven't checked Loma out yet, go do so at your earliest convenience. Now, here's that promised sample, the stand-out single Black Willow with which Loma closed their set:
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