Olin & The Moon at the Hotel Utah...photo by Robert Celli
This past Wednesday night I had the opportunity to see the pride of Sun Valley, Idaho Olin & The Moon live at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco. In an earlier post on this blog I sung the band's praises for their latest recording Footsteps. But the real proof for me has always been what can a band can do free of the studio and placed on a stage. I was not the least bit disappointed, in fact I was blown away by the poise and maturity of a band that clearly has been earning it on the road, one town at a time. Lead singer and songwriter David LaBrel had a natural charisma and confidence that swept through the small but tightly packed club. This is a band that is comfortable playing to whatever room "the road" throws their way. I could imagine their sound being just as dialed in an arena as in a 50 seat cafe. Their songs already seem designed to fill the space between your headphones, or a bedroom late at night, but what about a club?
David LaBrel w/ acoordion...photo by Robert Celli
At "the Utah" they played a diverse set of songs that had the girls gently rocking back and forth, while providing enough muscle for the men to grip their Buds and confidently nod their heads. "Terrible Town" - a single off an earlier album of the same name - was a great driving rock tune. The song featured some perfectly orchestrated builds and nice accents, highlighting drummer Marshall Vore's and bassist Kyle Vicioso's understated rhythmic punch. In fact, that "understated" quality is at the core of the band's live sound . Olin & The Moon strike the perfect balance of delivering well-defined parts that are not stiffly executed. There is an "in-the-moment" aspect to this band and the way the songs are approached in the live setting. It could be easy to fall back on road-tested chops but they genuinely seem to be connecting with the songs, crowd and each other, in a way that is natural and organic to THAT performance. Lead guitarist Travis LaBrel plays leads that resonate but are never over-played, reminding me of another restrained but tasty guitar player, Lucero's Brian Venable. He also hits some sweet harmonies with his brother-the kind only brothers can hit - as was evidenced in the song "Jackson".
Brothers LaBrel...photo by Robert Celli
Another set highlight for me was "Out of Here" featuring accordion and vocals that were at once strong and aching by David LaBrel. LaBrel has a natural and unaffected instrument that connects well with audiences. "Waking Up" was a fine example of why pedal steel is such a wondrous instrument. Pedal steel player Brian McGinnis has a precocious command over an instrument that it takes many years to master. The hourlong set reminded me of two of my favorite live bands Lucero and Soul Asylum. Like those bands, Olin & The Moon take you on a musical journey that goes by too fast and leaves you wanting a few songs more. Now, I see plenty of bands and this is not the norm. Most times I wish a few minutes would be shaved off of sets but definitely not in this case. When the closer and EPIC "15 Burro Blanco" came to its crashing crescendo, I was patiently waiting for the next tune when I noticed the band was packing up. That is a good sign...believe me for a guy who sees close to 200 shows a year, a very good sign. The band left for gigs in Fresno and Santa Cruz before eventually heading out to Austin, TX for SXSW. Video below of their set closer taken with my trusty FlipCam UNEDITED and extremely LIVE, enjoy.
The Hotel Utah won't be big enough for Olin and the Moon in a month
A lot of music comes my way and quite frankly, lately, it has all sounded pretty decent. But here at "What Duvet Said..." decent won't cut it! We want brilliant or some potential for brilliance. When you get that in a band and album, well that's WINNING! So enough suspense, I give you Sun Valley, Idaho's Olin and the Moon! Pitched to me as Wilco meets Big Star with a pinch of Ryan Adams (in fact drummer Marshall Vore also plays with Ryan Adams), I was initially skeptical. That's a tall order I thought but singer-songwriter David LaBrel is up to the task. Being labeled as alt-country doesn't do Olin and the Moon justice. Too often we are obsessed with genre and the subsequent limitations these labels put on people's thoughts and experiences of music. Rootsy? Sure. Americana? Okay. Alt-Country? Whatever that means now-a-days, I can see it. But what the songs on Olin and the Moon's latest, Footsteps, really represent are feelings expressed with nuance, economy, proficiency, and joy. LaBrel and lead guitarist, brother Travis, along with fellow members Vore, Brian McGinnis, and Kyle Vicioso make music that sounds as natural in the backroom of a honky tonk as coming out of a car stereo on a long, lonely drive across desert expanse, or as it would if you were laying on your back in a field somewhere staring up at the stars.
Their latest album Footsteps
That is to say, this music is about feeling things and being transported by those feelings to places only you can go to. There is a bit of Soul Asylum and The Jayhawk's gift for being both earnest and confident without to much polish. Songs like "Repeat" and "15 Burro Blanco" drive and sting. "Not in Love" and "Last Song" are as pretty as pictures of your first love or worse, "the one that got away". This is yearning music. It makes you want to go places, kiss those boys or girls and smoke that last cigarette, preferably alone at sunrise. That's not to say these guys can't burn a barn or two. There are some very fiery leads to go along with the plaintive wail of a pedal steel. I couldn't help but think of another artist that I felt similarly about when I first heard him, Ryan Bingham. I'm seldom wrong about these things, I wasn't about Bingham and I'm not about Olin and the Moon. If any of this strikes a chord with you, GOOD! Olin and the Moon will be playing San Francisco's Hotel Utah this Wednesday night March 9th opening for The Horde and the Harem at 9pm. I urge you to see this band NOW in an intimate environment before they head of to Austin, TX for SXSW and come through playing venues three times this size. Duvet says, "DO IT!"
