Second night of my two-in-two’er,
and this couldn’t be more different to last night’s sweaty sonic overload… The
esteemed Matthew Caws, leader of course of The Greatest Band On The Planet,
Nada Surf, posted a video of his friend Annie Dressner’s new song “I Should
Have Seen It Coming”, in which he featured, having a ball thrown at him!
Intrigued by this and the irresistible US alt-college pop groove of the song, I
picked up its’ parent album, “I Thought It Would Be Easier” which, despite (or
maybe because of) being considerably more understated than the outlier track
“Coming”, is a beguiling work of quiet self-introspection, mixing elements of
70’s Laurel Canyon folk, alt-country and, yes, 90’s Blake Babies-esque college pop,
and capped by a singular voice; high register, curling up at the edges, and
both innocent and world-weary sounding in equal measure, evoking (for me at
least) the likes of Mary Lorson, Margot Timmins and even Suzanna Hoffs. I just
missed grabbing tix for Annie’s recent Purley gig but was happy to pounce on
this one. A gig in Trowbridge? First time since those 90’s “Psychic Pig” days…
I parked up in the last spot in the Lamb Inn car park after a meander down the winding roads of Wiltshire, some 20 minutes before doors. A bit puzzled on entry to the pub as there was no actual indication that a gig was going on! I eventually discovered the venue was a high roofed outhouse barn, which with a seated balcony increased the capacity to, ooh, a couple of dozen… I took a set around one of the 4 bistro tables filling the ground floor, noting the plethora of old brass instruments, violins and equine equipment adorning the whitewashed walls, and of course the ubiquitous green water pump, house left. Quite the oddest gig venue I’ve been to for some time; plus, at 58, I seemed to be about the youngest of the dozen or so early comers! A serious contrast from last night; I don’t think I’ll be working up a moshpit sweat tonight…
Local lot Thieves (well, 3 of the usual 4 – apparently the 4th member was “stolen…!”), on at 8 p.m., played a mix of originals and covers in a very trad C&W/ folk “woke up this morning” vein. Entirely competent at what they do, but not my cup of murky cider with bits floating in it. Their most memorable point was that the blond mandolin player’s fast one-note strumming reminded me of the “Out Of Town” theme tune, a 70’s country life TV programme I used to watch as a kid with my dad. Which was a nice memory, I guess… I got my hoody from the car as the barn was a bit chilly (t’was the other way around last night!), then main support Ed Blunt, a personable young chap and dead ringer for my work IT guy Joe, played a short set kicking off with an old-fashioned late night torch music keyboard number “Over The Moon”, before some more folk-oriented contemplative low key numbers on the guitar. For his last number, “Such A Shitshow”, Ed invited Annie onstage for a diverting duet, which was a nice way to end a pleasant enough set – better than the openers, anyway...
Annie eventually plugged in for 9.20, warning us, “if you’re going to the bathroom, be aware there’s someone really scary in the way”, referring to a local apparently throwing his weight around… a little distracted, she nonetheless took to her task with chatty, affable ease and no little amount of talent; a solo alt-countrified “Nyack” was followed by Ed joining her onstage to provide backing keys to the delicate melancholy of “Black And White” and the world-weary and somewhat ironic “Do You Want To Start A Fight” (“I should have asked the guy outside…!”), then the Cowboy Junkies hush of “Kentucky” was preceded by a story of Annie rolling down a hill during her brief visit to the eponymous state! “Warning Sign”, co-written by David Ford, needed a restart as a siren distracted Annie midway through (apparently police had turned up to apprehend the bolshy local!), but she was back on form with a lovely “Leather Chair”, about visiting her grandmother who lived near the Empire State Building. A more upbeat “Big Grey Couch” led into some audience participation for the stream-of consciousness acerbic betrayal song “18 Years”; then Annie explained the concept for the video for set closer “I Should Have Seen It Coming” (“50 people having things thrown at them – Ed almost got hit by a brick!”) before a racey drum-loop augmented run through of this, my favourite of the set.
After a final encore, Annie manned
the merch and I got to compliment and chat about Mr. Caws with a gregarious and
grateful singer, before hitting the road for an equally meandering drive home
after an enjoyable if lower key evening of musical entertainment. Thanks Annie,
and thanks Matthew for the tip!
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