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Blog Entry 1 of 4 my freezer is full of dead birds and other stories
funny and sometime serious observations about the world and my family.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~Will

The Life There Is at The Bluebird
Contributed by: will paterson   on 10/1/2007

The Life There Is, a Boulder-based quartet, opened with the twang of pedal steel and Eric Larson'sreverberated voice, which sounded calm, but on the verge of being out of control, like the feeling people get, just before their voice builds into an angry yell. The pedal steel played an important role in the show: starting many songs and acting as a base to build upon, but also setting them apart from their influences, such as Radiohead, Coldplay, and TV On The Radio, by stealing more then just cowboy boots from the southern rock songsters of old.

Their songs hit like waves, starting slowly, with a few keyboard strokes, or guitar strums, or the aforementioned, pedal steel, but built into epic sounding electronica, all the while, Larson stood at the microphone pensively, hinting at deep seething undertones, that harkened back to 60's psych pop and more specifically, The Beach Boys album, surfs up. Repeatedly, they hit the audience with their building anthems and at first, the songs sounded fresh and exciting, incorporating new music and old, however the audience seemed to grow tired of the repetition and predictability of their song structure, standing still even at the most rollicking times. The Life There Is still sound like they're searching for the right mix and growing as a band, but if their award, for best Ambient/Electronica band from the Westword Music Showcase, is any indication, they have a promising future ahead of them.

The Widowers, a local five piece, followed with their own brand of 60's psych pop; sounding like a more pastoral version of Broken Social Scene. They incorporated the necessary, light hearted and repetitive guitar riffs and synths, which moved their songs along and made them easy to hum and bounce to. They looked happy on stage, as if they enjoyed playing together and their enthusiasm felt infectious, as evidenced by the audience's slow dancing, as well as their desire to nod their heads in unison, during the down beats. They also looked busy, fiddling with effects pedals and using power-poses and bouncing from one part of the stage to another, giving them credibility, as if the audience needed to watch them, since they were working so hard. A conglomeration of two older bands - Constellations and Women Gathering Gems - the new lineup felt like the perfect platform for these budding stars to show their musicianship, while still remaining poppy and fun to listen to.




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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

will paterson

boulder , CO

will paterson has posted 4 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 3/30/2007. will paterson 's average blog rating is 4.94.
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