michael hurley/tara jane o'neil/samara lubelski @ the Nave Gallery, Somerville
the nave gallery is basically a presbyterian church which has been turned into an occasional performance space (and adjoining room as gallery, which had some photos and art) via ArtSomerville, a non-profit organization. the room itself is very spacious and lends very easily to a performance space, but the atmosphere was a bit *too* reserved, and you could tell that samara and tara jane were a bit unnerved by the utter silence between songs (after the applause, of course). the stage was very unadorned; a single row of white xmas tree lights on the border of the stage, two candles, and a sole spotlight on the performer's right, which threw an interesting shadow towards the back, but also led to unsightly mic stand shadows, esp for the seated performers (tara was the only one standing). this led to some very challenging conditions, esp since movement to get different angles for different perspectives wasn't conducive. i shot w/ a 50mm and 85mm, both f/1.8. i found out afterwards that my metering mode was set to partial for all the shots.
first up was Samara (w/ unannounced helper, on various things like keyboards, bowed autoharp, vocals, and a couple of other odds and ends). a former member of both Tower Recordings and Hall of Fame, she's struck out on her own for a few records of simple beauty, acoustic framed and very reminiscent of the english folk scene, which is an unassailable flame to the acoustic guitar-bearing moths these days.
1
next up was tara, who also struck out on her own after Rodan, Retsin, The Sonora Pine and a couple of one-offs. sonically, she's abandoned the slintisms of Rodan and more closely aligns more closely w/ Chan Marshall; i was really impressed by the quality of her voice. she earned hipster points by covering a judee sill song (can't recall which one, as i don't know the records too well).
2
 | HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png' |
for those who don't know, michael hurley is an old time folkie, stretching back to the days of the holy modal rounders. his playing is very straightforward and direct, tying in references to bluegrass, folklore, and ragtime. very well stated by an amazon reviewer: "Michael Hurley is all about perspective. One moment he searches for life's deepest meanings; the next he sings the praises of dinner. He leaves it to the listener to decide which is more important". definitely agree w/ that one, as one of the more entertaining songs was an a cappela song about an old black crow, complete w/ sound effects. he was accompanied by 'bones', a guy who played a washboard, claves, and something which he banged on the floor and hit (kinda had a pie plate-like disc mounted on a pole).
3
4
5
| HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png' |
