Good friends, good drink, and good music. All three are necessary ingredients in the recipe for a great Friday night. All three were present Friday night as Sera Cahoone and Grand Archives put on an impressive show for us at Sticky Fingerz. I showed up early and alone and the man and woman at the door asked if I'd like a table for one. They looked at me funny when I said that, in fact, I would be needing a table for 10, thank you very much. "Well, what time will the other nine be arriving?" they asked. "I don't know, at different times." "Well, what time will they start arriving?" "I don't know, in five or ten minutes." "How many will be here in five or ten minutes?" "I don't know. A few." I let them off the hook and told them I didn't really expect them to provide me a table for 10. In the end, the eight-top that the lady from the front door graciously pulled together for me ended up comfortably handling our crew of 12. Those folks at Stickyz are a pretty accommodating lot when it gets right down to it, and it's one of the better places to see live music in town, especially when you look at some of the talent who have come through there recently -- Hayes Carll, Claire Holley, and, Friday night, Sera Cahoone and Grand Archives.
The New Frontiers, an indie quintet from Dallas, started out the night. Honestly, my first impression of this band's performance was that it was loud. They were having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF THEIR AMP(!!!). It was turned up to 11, and Alex Bhore hacked away like he had something personal against the drum kit. But when they settled into some of their more restrained material, things really started to sound much better. And I can't be too hard on them because they're recorded stuff is not bad at all. "Black Lungs" and "Walking on Stones" are personal favorites from their new album Mending. And hell, they're earnest. And I like earnest people.
After an hour of sipping tea by herself during The New Frontiers' set, Sera Cahoone took to the stage next. She's currently touring with Grand Archives and was formerly the drummer for Carissa's Wierd (yes, they intentionally misspelled "weird"), a band which, not coincidentally, Grand Archives' frontman Mat Brooke used to play guitar and sing for. They were also both in a little-known act called Band of Horses. Her music combines elements of country with a bit of indie rock, and she's touring to promote her latest with her new label Sub Pop Records, 2008's Only as the Day Is Long, a nice little CD with some great songs. The banjo adds a great touch to some warm, subdued music that's easy to listen to. Cahoone's smooth voice layers nicely with the music, and it's even more evident on the CD, which I highly recommend purchasing. On their website, NPR describes the sixth track, "You're Not Broken" as "the sonic equivalent of a foot-rub at the end of a long day."
It was after 11:00 when Grand Archives struck their first note. I'd been listening to their CD for a week, so "Miniature Birds" was instantly familiar (and welcome). A few of their songs will disappoint listeners at a live show who have only heard the CD if they go into it thinking it's going to sound the same. It's simply too difficult to replicate the sonic layering of a CD track like the hypnotic "Sleepdriving" on the small stage. But if you remove those expectations, the stripped down version doesn't disappoint, and it's impressive how they can come so close to replicating that full sound with just guitar and keyboard. "Swan Matches" and "Index Moon" were simply beautiful, with a falsetto harmony that took you to another place. But "The Crime Window" is where we really got to hear what this band can do live. Its clever lyrics and upbeat, driving rhythm took the performance to the next level, to the point that even the blackberry gazers at the table had to look up and take notice.
We got to hang out with Sera Cahoone and Mat Brooke for a while after the show. They were all getting ready to pull an all-nighter on the road to Austin, but they couldn't have been more gracious with their time, talking shop and signing posters and CD cases. They even initialed a couple of pins for some of the girls in our group. Nothing like having a little autographed flair. By the time we headed out the door to let the bands hit the road we came away with the sense that these were very down-to-earth people who want nothing more than to perform the music they love for people who love it too. I can tell you that at least some of those people live right here in Little Rock.
Here's hoping that the road leads Sera Cahoone and Grand Archives back to Little Rock again soon.
-G
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