I’m not a rock star, but I imagine one of the hardest task for a band is to follow up an opening act that just put on an absolutely blazing show. On the upside, everyone at the venue is already in a great mood, on the flip side, expectations become exceedingly high. This was the circumstance that veteran folk act Bowerbirds faced on a chilly Tuesday night at the Garrison.
The five piece band was in town to promote recently released album The Clearing. It was the North Carolina band’s third record and first in three years. I was completely new to the band, having gone to the show on a whim and was interested in them due to comparisons to Lavender Diamond, a band I enjoy.
After witnessing their hour long set, I think Bowerbirds songs are more digestible if the concert attendee knew their music. Philip Moore’s vocals sound a bit like Fyfe Dangerfield’s and his tales of love, relationships and other things certainly sound like good stories but too often i failed to catch the hook within the songs. The band are certainly talented musicians, switching between accordion, keyboards, strings, triangles, maracas and guitar with surprising ease. However, I sensed a certain lack of cohesion between the instruments during the tracks. Too often it was just everyone playing at once, which meant nothing really stood out. Seems kind of a waste if you have such talented people on these instruments if you don’t take the time to properly integrate it into the music. Maybe the recorded version sounds different.
As a newcomer to the band, I left the show completely indifferent. Maybe a listening session to their record is in order though, as the people beside me were happily singing along to the songs.
Tour dates are as follows:
Tue. April 3 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile w/ Dry the River
Wed. April 4 — Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge w/ Dry the River
Fri. April 6 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent w/ Dry the River
Sat. April 7 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour w/ Dry the River
Sun. April 8 — San Diego, CA @ Casbah w/ Dry the River
Wed. April 11 — Austin, TX @ The Parish w/ Dry the River
Thu. April 12 — Dallas, TX @ The Loft w/ Dry the River
Sat. April 14 — Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree w/ Mandolin Orange
Sun. April 15 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl w/ Mandolin Orange