Carter Tanton was who I went to see for this sold out Bowery Ballroom show, after falling in love with his song “Murderous Joy,” although Sharon Van Etten as the headliner could in no way be a disappointment, plus opener Glass Ghost proved themselves to be a fresh gem. Tanton is a singer-songwriter, whose musical credits include his former band Tulsa, being a guitarist in Marissa Nadler’s band and co-writing one of her songs, and currently being a member of Lower Dens. He’s got a voice similar to Mark Kozelek in his timbre and also in the way he bends and holds out long notes at a time between staccato accents. He had a whole slew of pedals and knobs, but what was most affecting besides his vocals was his 12-string guitar work. He pulled out some heartfelt folk songs from deep down, while looping himself in interesting ways, like singing into the body of his guitar and looping that through a pedal while progressing forward in the song.
He had a few technical difficulties with the looping samples cutting out too abruptly, and the set lagged a bit in the middle when Tanton went off on a few ambient tangents, but even then when he seemed lost in his own musical world he was still interesting to watch. Surprisingly, he didn’t play “Murderous Joy,” which I was really hoping to hear, even as a more stripped down solo version. He did play a song he wrote for Alex Chilton called “Memphis Alex,” which was an on-point ode reminiscent of Chilton’s own solo work, an dhe ended on a cover of John Cage’s “Caribbean Sunset,” which he dedicated to Sharon Van Etten for her birthday, because he knew “she likes John Cage a lot.”
Ms. Van Etten closed out the night with her set of songs that are all beautiful ways of communicating those facets of life that can really dig into a person if they don’t find a way to let it out. She switched between electric and acoustic guitar on what were mostly songs off her new album, Tramp, and played the omnichord for one song. As we knew by now, it was indeed her birthday, and all through her set audience members would yell out “Happy Birthday” to her, until the end when everyone sang the full Happy Birthday song to her as her band brought out a cupcake with a single candle for her to blow out. She declared that she would play the rest of the song with icing on her face, but having a row a photographers right in front of the stage made her reconsider, and she wiped it off. She did allow herself to be fitted by Aaron Dessner, who had joined the band for the second half of the set, with a giant alien balloon that was a gift from The Antlers for the whole first song of the encore. After the third encore song Sharon expressed her gratitude for everyone involved with the show, and everyone who came out to make her birthday show a sold out one, and shared the birthday love, proclaiming, “Happy Birthday, Pisces!”
Starting off the whole night was Glass Ghost, who is a Brooklyn-based band that has a sound like post-lounge pop. Singer/keyboardist Eliot Krimsky’s voice might be an acquired taste, perhaps in the same way that listening to Daniel Johnston affects different people in different ways. Either way, Krimsky’s voice is highly distinguishable, and it would be much harder to argue against his piano playing. What struck me most about their set, as I hadn’t heard any of their music prior to this, was that many of their songs seemed to start out sounding like an incredibly awkward composition, but would suddenly get really, really good. They would add layers and suddenly the parts that initially sounded awkward made perfect sense, as important pieces in a complex web of brilliant experimental pop. They were also great to watch as Krimsky would get this intense look on his face while playing, but in contrast, drummer Mike Johnson looked like he couldn’t be more blissed out with his groove. This musically stirring group is definitely a fresh act to catch live.
This was Carter Tanton’s last solo show for the time being, as Lower Dens (who he’ll be back in NYC with for a could shows in May) are kicking off a tour. Sharon Van Etten is on tour all Spring long, with stops in Europe and at SXSW. Glass Ghost will be at Union Pool in Brooklyn in April, and you can ask them what’s up on their Facebook.
