Sunday, August 29, 2010

Featured show of the day

Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the Bourbon Theatre
Sea Wolf (acoustic) w/ Sera Cahoone, Patrick Park and Manny Coon
$10 adv., $12 dos, tickets online here

RIYL: Bright Eyes, Iron and Wine, Calexico, Elliott Smith

Sea Wolf (acoustic)
Sea Wolf on MySpace


Taking its name from novelist Jack London’s 1904 seafaring adventure, Sea Wolf has evolved organically from its hermetic origins in Alex Brown Church’s living room into a muscular, full-bodied musical entity with passion to burn. After adopting the sobriquet, Church burst onto the
music scene in two-fisted fashion with the EP, Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low, and the subsequent full-length debut album, Leaves in the River. And now, Church’s singular vision has led to the creation of the eloquent and expansive new album White Water, White Bloom. It was
recorded at the Omaha studio of Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Monsters of Folk), with Church handling vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, as well as some of the air organ and pump organ sounds that were such a big part of the sonic signature of the earlier records. Joining him were the three core members of the six-piece Sea Wolf touring lineup. The remaining slots were filled by Mogis on lead guitar and an assortment of other instruments, with his Bright Eyes cohort Nate Walcott. They arrived with a full set of song demos, providing a detailed blueprint for their subsequent expansion into widescreen anthems that reshape the classic aspects of traditional folk, folk rock and chamber pop—but these bucolic elements are intercut with aggressive bursts of raw emotion sharpened to a serrated edge—making for a rich, vibrant sound that is virtually unprecedented.




Her first stage performance came in a suburban Denver bar, where, at the tender age of 12, she played drums behind a bunch of bluesmen on open mic night. She first picked up the sticks in junior high band class, after bumrushing the kit to show the percussion students how to play. And her earliest instrument was saxophone, though she busted her own reeds to keep from practicing.

Unorthodox beginnings surely, but Cahoone has often plotted an unorthodox route on the way to Only As the Day Is Long, her quiet, country-noirish second album and Sub Pop debut, out March 18.

That path has also included a notable tenure as drummer for rock outfit and Sub Pop labelmates, Band of Horses (she plays on their acclaimed 2006 album, Everything All The Time), as well as a stint for the late indie band Carissa’s Weird.

But in 2006, Cahoone decided to step out from the cymbals and snare and focus on singing, songwriting, and guitar playing, skills she’d been honing for nearly 15 years on her own.

Now on Only As The Day Is Long, the airy gentleness of the arrangements is counterweighted by tension in the lyrics. “I know I’m safe for now, but I know the rest is on its way,” she sings on the title song. Time and again, characters mired in the present cast either skeptical or
hopeful eyes on the future: “It’s got to get better than this” (“Runnin’ Your Way”), “I wish this night would pass on by” (“Shitty Hotel”), “Time’s been moving too fast” (“You’re Not Broken”).

Patrick Park

Patrick Park is a Colorado native that grew up outside of Denver, surrounded by words and music. His mother is a published poet, and his father played folk and blues on the guitar around the house. “I’ve written songs since I was a kid,” he says. “There was nothing else that I really wanted to do—I was obsessed with it. I pretty much decided at the age of 13 or 14 that this was what I wanted to do.” Now with three EPs and two full lengths to his name, Patrick Park is set to release his strongest set of songs yet with the new lp.

Park released his first lp Loneliness Knows My Name in 2003 (Hollywood Records) and immediately hit the road, touring with My Morning Jacket, David Grey, Liz Phair, The Thrills, Rachel Yamagata, Granddaddy and more. As the album drew praise from critics, Patrick won over crowds show by show with his intimate, nuanced live performance.

After enduring the long process of getting off Hollywood, Patrick finally released Everyone’s in Everyone in 2007. Park worked with several producers including Dave Trumfio, (Built to Spill, Wilco), Rob Schapf (Elliott Smith, Beck) and Chris Stamey (Whiskeytown). The album was well received, making several year-end Best Of lists, lead off track, “ Life Is A Song” was featured as the final song on The O.C, and viewed by over eight million people and the second single “Here We Are” was one of Stereogum’s most downloaded tracks of 2007.

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