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The Jumblies are playing as I arrive, and it's an '80s dance party, complete with disco ball. (Although it's on the floor of the stage, projecting the lights, instead of a mirror ball.) There's prominent synth, watery guitar, and simple, New Wave drum parts. I feel that this style lends itself to dominant vocal melodies, and unfortunately the vocals are mixed really low. The keyboard player has a lovely voice, sort of soft and furry, but her pitch is fairly weak. However, she is all but begging for more monitors, so it seems likely that she'd be better if she could hear herself. The guitarist also sings, more shouty than melodic but with a loud, fun, freaky energy. There is also a violin, with a huge amount of reverb on it, which adds dense, dripping atmosphere but doesn't up the melody content much.
Alec K. Redfearn is a vastly more stripped-down experience. He's accompanied by two violinists tonight, and they're calling themselves the Lungs. Alec has a couple of instruments: the first song is a solo instrumental for kick drum and jaw harp, then he sings and accompanies himself on the accordion. He struggles just a bit with the drum sometimes, but he's a fine and interesting accordion player. His songs are rootsy and folky, with lots of waltzes. Even the brand new ones sound older than dirt. The violins mostly add close harmony and rich texture to the keyboard lines he plays on the accordion. And one song is a capella, with him playing a tape he's recorded into the microphone and harmonizing with it.
Humanwine are now a four-piece, having parted ways with their bassist. So their older songs are sporting a lot of new arrangements. I'm sad that they've stripped out a bit of the shouting that he participated in, but the new arrangements are lovely and interesting. It's all acoustic guitar, keyboard, and drums now, so there is a softer feel. But soft can also get bland, and Holly's stellar, fluid voice and riveting stage presence will never be bland. One of their songs is introduced with a little rant about friends ODing, which hits me pretty hard, but then, it's a hard-hitting song. Unfortunately, things are running late, and they have to wrap up a bit early.
It's good to leave time for The Glass Set, though, as it is their residency and CD release, and I've wanted very much to check them out. Given their pedigree (members of Ho-Ag, Anti-Love Project, Lady of Spain, and the incomparable Leah Callahan), I expected them to be weirder than they actually turn out to be. They're kind of a rock band, you know? Their melodic excursions are kind of narrow, but Leah has a rich voice and an odd, interesting presence onstage, almost affectless but somehow commanding. There are harmony vocals on a few songs, which liven up the sound. My favorite part of the band turns out to be the guitar, which is not flashy—he's not a shredder—but varied and interesting, and full of little surprises: a bizarre chord here or unexpected note there that keeps my attention. And the whole band is very tight, as you'd expect from such an all-star cast. They try to close with a cover ("Fire in Cairo"), but are prevailed upon for an encore.
