by Brad Roberts
Sunday night, April 12, 2009 was a special evening. I went to see Vetiver in his first of a two night run at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. I was anxiously awaiting this show, as his most recent CD, Tight Knit, has been on constant rotation, both on my CD player, and in my head.
It was also a trip to a venue I'd never visited before, which turned out to be easily accessible to a metro-bound rider like myself, with a bus stop just out the front door. It's in the far away land of Eagle Rock, in a beautiful Spanish-revival style building with steps leading up the hill on which it resides. The main hall houses the music and is large and a little cavernous, reminding me of a smaller, more modest Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever.
Adam Stephens of Two Gallants opened and began solo with lots of pre-recorded instrumental and vocal accompaniment. So much so that I had to keep checking that he was alone on the stage. Slowly, over the course of the next few songs, one by one, the recordings were replaced by, first a guitar player, then a drummer, finally a bass player.
Unfortunately, for those at the back of the hall, the sound got muddy and fuzzy from bouncing all over the stucco walls and the vocals were indistinct. Remarkably, the closer I got, the clearer it became, and I realized position was everything in a space like this. It was like having bass and treble knobs you could control by two steps forward, one to the right; or two steps to the left and one step back, etc. I was concerned that this could derail the Vetiver set. I couldn't have been more mistaken. The sound was superb. I was well positioned, too, so that from the first song on, I was under the spell of his music and came away totally satisfied.
He came on around 10 and from the start, Andy Cabic's voice was right there in front. He sounds even better in person than recorded. His easy and relaxed singing style could have easily been lost in the wash of his gorgeous guitar work except a perfect sound mix took care of that.
I'm glad I'm so familiar with his work that I appreciated each song he sang and as the set progressed I became even more impressed with his vocal gifts. He sounds so nonchalant and casual, yet each note is carefully defined so that the slightest change has maximum effect. He reminded me of Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers in the unforced nature of his singing that reveals great depth, almost unwittingly.
Andy and his band (above at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC) sang lots of material off Tight Knit, but also included past gems like "Been So Long" from To Find Me Gone. I don't know the names of his band but they sounded like the same musicians as on the album. I was really happy to see Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats join them for a few songs and add his guitar to the shimmering sound. He contributed to the CD as well.
"Sister" is a sweet song with a samba beat, and "Everyday" and "On the Other Side", with it's shambling sway, were pleasers. But it was "Rolling Sea" that was, maybe my favorite song of the night, with it's ever-building crescendo of strummed guitars that pretty much melted me. Sometimes the music became incredibly beautiful.
I love the song "Through the Front Door", partly because it reminds me so much of George Harrison from the All Things Must Pass years. It sounds like it could have been a song on that album. Or maybe it just reminds me of "Beware of Darkness", which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Whatever... I listen to it all the time.
I had seen Vetiver once before, at The Troubadour in May, 2008 and had enjoyed that show, but I think the new material and his live presentation of it, shows remarkable growth and it was a really fine evening of music.
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