Artists: Quilt / Mutual
Benefit / Soft Healer
Venue: Antone's
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 16 September 2016
Mutual Benefit's
setlist:
01. Madrugada →
01. Madrugada →
02. Skipping Stones →
03. Closer, Still
04. Statue of a Man
05. Lost Dreamers
06. Passenger →
07. Auburn Epitaphs
08. Moonville Tunnel
09. Strong Swimmer
10. Stargazer →
11. That Light That's
Blinding
12. Advanced Falconry
13. Getting Gone
14. Golden Wake
Quilt's setlist:
01. Passersby
02. Young Gold
03. Saturday Bride
04. Eliot St.
05. Roller
06. Searching For
07. Arctic Shark
08. Hissing My Plea
09. Penobska Oakwalk
10. Tie Up the Tides
11. Secondary Swan
12. Talking Trains
Local
Austin band Soft Healer
started out the night. They are a four piece with a vocalist/bassist,
a lead guitarist, a drummer, and a keyboardist/vocalist. Their music
was sparse, mysterious, and just barely groovy. They managed to
remind me a bit of Can's
astral jams with lead guitar inspired by the "desert guitar"
of bands like Bombino
and Songhoy Blues. However, while
the bass and drums were solid, the guitar was occasionally a bit
weak, and the keyboards were too low in the mix. I liked the openness
of their sound and the unusual combination of styles and sounds they
presented, but they could still do some work on dynamics and focus.
The
main draw of the night for me was Mutual Benefit.
Of
the three times I have seen them in
Austin, this venue seemed to
be the best-suited for them, and for once the sound quality was
actually decent. The first time I saw them was at a terrible temporary venue for SXSW, where
they played a short set plagued by sound problems, but I appreciated
the fullness provided by their seven-piece lineup. The next time, the band appeared as a four piece without violins or bass,
and again the
sound at the venue could've been better. This time, they again
appeared as a four piece, but with an altered configuration.
Bandleader Jordan Lee handled lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, banjo,
and loops as usual,
and Mike Clifford and Dillon Zahner returned on lead guitar and
drums/backing vocals, respectively. But in place of Jordan's sister
Whitney on keyboards/accordion/vocals, there was a bassist/flutist
that went unintroduced and whose name I cannot find.
In
the previous incarnation, I complained about the lack of bottom end
and the confusion of the higher frequencies. This time, the high end
was much clearer and well-defined, and while the low end was much
fuller, the bass was too low in the mix, and many songs seemed to be
missing central parts and melodies. Dillon's vocals were subtle but
excellent, and the bassist did occasionally switch to flute for some
of the higher melodic components (such as the main keyboard riff of
"Golden Wake"), but the sound would have been much more
complete had regular collaborator and violinist Jake Falby been
present. He was part of the core of musicians that contributed to the
new album, Skip a Sinking Stone,
and was featured prominently in the great early version of "Not
for Nothing" featured on the Shaking Through webseries. Whitney was also missed, and since she
apparently lives in Austin, I was hoping she might make a guest
appearance, but
that did not materialize.
None
of those considerations should be taken as a criticism of the
performers that were present: the quartet all played well and created
a warm, mellow bed of sound punctuated with Jordan's pleasing
melodies and a decent rhythm section. Although there was a pretense
of rock, the band generally kept to a rather modest energy level. In
fact, if there's a critique
to be made, it's that they were almost too restrained. The fact that
the songs were a little under-arranged only reinforced
that notion.
Nonetheless,
their songs have such an easy, comfortable appeal that it was still a
captivating experience. Their setlist was evenly split between the
new album, Love's
Crushing Diamond,
and older EP tracks. It was a bit odd that they
only
played
five
of
the twelve tracks from the new album,
while
they also played five of seven slightly longer songs from the
previous
album. They didn't even play the best song from Skip
a Sinking Stone,
the sorta-single "Not for Nothing"! I didn't miss most of
the lesser second half of the album, but I was still hoping for "Many
Returns".
[Mutual Benefit.]
The
audience shuffled about quite a bit between sets, but surged towards
the front of the room when Quilt
took the stage. Their regular lineup of Anna Fox Rochinski
(vocals/guitar), Shane Butler (guitar/vocals), Keven Lareau
(bass/vocals) and John Andrews (drums/vocals) was augmented on this
tour by keyboardist June West, who greatly added to the fullness of their
sound.
They
slowly worked into the lead track of their new album, Plaza,
which gave the band a chance to show off their sublime folk harmonies
and their psychedelic guitar explorations. The effortlessness with
which they unassumingly wield their voices in harmony was
truly fascinating to behold, and the guitarwork was great without
being a spectacle of pure show. Their
bassist was also talented and kept a great groove while occasionally
even contributing clever melodic additions.
While
some of their songs were surprisingly short, most seemed to be
extended into free jam territory. They never strayed too far away
from the core song or let themselves meander into blandness. Some of
the best songs, such as "Tie Up the Tides" and "Secondary
Swans", exploded into great instrumental passages, but then
returned back into new sections of the song with lyrics. It all
flowed together seamlessly.
I
was surprised that, much like Mutual Benefit, Quilt played for just
under an hour. There were calls for an encore, and it wasn't even
quite midnight yet, but the show was over.
[Quilt.]
Scores:
Soft Healer: B-
Mutual Benefit: B
Quilt: A-
Skip a Sinking
Stone:
B+
