White Hinterland

And on a Free Monday too! This comes on the heels of missing a Nocturna I wanted to go and then a Bittersweet at Berlin on Sunday that I also missed. So here comes this Free Monday at Empty Bottle I barely researched for. I checked half-assed White Hinterland before. Alright, She's cool.  I remember the decision to see her was done without a thought, and so, little research, just blind trust in my previous decision. I'll go....so I do, late....but somehow I make it to most of her show. I just wanted to see what it was that I was being late to. I still did not know.  I noticed a massive spillage of people just out side the entrance. Oh shit, that can mean something.  Another indicator for me is parking. I parked right around Roberto Clemente high school, that can mean a big crowd, right?.  All this is making me rush my steps, but there is a girl walking in front that I don't want to make her feel uneasy. I keep a distance.....There is something awesome that I am missing. I need to walk faster, but still. Damn, I can hear her as I show my ID. I actually catch more of her show than I believed I would. The show itself ran late I was told. I'm still processing how awesome the CD Baby its! Brian from Panda Riot was there. What he told me about White Hinterland made me anticipate hearing it in the car more. I don't recall if it was before or after the show when I saw him. I can ask him shit. I see him in so many shows. Casual comments from him lead me to other bands I like. Yes, there is a lot of work I can trace back to him but......oh, White Hinterland....Baby, right. So here we have another lone performer...with a very compelling presence. A large part of it is her voice but it does not stop there. Her voice indeed is something that carries heavy weight. Its something I can listen when the instruments recede around her. She plays from a keyboard. In researching to write about seeing her live. She was so nice afterwards. So now I got reasons to really cheer for her. In looking her up, I remember reading about her sounding like 90's R&B. And there was something vaguely familiar and comfortable in listening to all the tracks....Ring the Bell I can hear all day. Baby reminds me of Portishead with a more soulful voice. You are shaken with the chant "is this my weakness!" in the end but not before a set of dramatic steps of climb and fall until the crash. If you let the CD play each song is a new discovery. Metronome is awesome as well. These words are just poor hooks that hopefully lead one into supporting this artist. Currently No Devotion has a grip on me as I write this. It has this simmering confident stride that betrays good preparation for whatever can come from around the corner.  From there it climbs like its about to jump. And do it does eventually into a cloud that drifts many bands, not just one. And so I'm not even going into Sickle No Sword, you look it up...go!

away. Its not so much me listening to the words but feeling the sound of them and the dramatic....everything else. By the time you reach the last song .....Its the feeling of crash discovering
Zig