Brightest Young Things

All photos: Paul Perkins

 We are in DC, where words are dead, and so I will employ the following set of acronyms in my review of Thursday’s show at the Black Cat:

 

• BC = Black Cat
• HF = Horse Feathers
• JP = Joe Pug
• LP = Long Play album
• DB = ???

 

The BC was quiet in the hour before the show, which was surprising.  My other experiences there have usually been pretty rowdy, crowded and loud, even the backstage.  Even when it filled up, it was a mellow crowd, which suited the tone of the show.

 

 

 

You probably haven't heard much about the Horse Feathers.  They're not really a hype-able group.  When I stumbled upon them (thanks to Captain Obvious), I didn't freak out and blast it out to everyone I knew, as I somewhat embarrassingly remember doing with Damien Rice's first album.  Instead I found myself just listening to them all the time, and not saying much else.

 

Their music, and Thursday’s performance, is solid, delicate, beautiful and hushed, the words barely comprehensible and blending in as another instrument with the cello, violin, banjo and guitar.  The tiny backstage was the perfect venue for the introspective-folk Portland quartet, and the drizzly, spitting spring storm that hung over DC Thursday evening set a reverent mood.

 

 

Lead singer Justin Ringle, who vaguely resembles Ron Howard, started HF solo in 2005, lifting the band name from a 1932 Marx Brothers film.   He was joined by musical prodigy Peter Broderick (whose solo stuff is great as well) and Heather Broderick, with whom he recorded HF’s two gorgeous LPs: Words Are Dead and House With No Home.  Broderick left to join the Danish band Efterklang, and so Ringle now tours with three other Portland musicians.  They’re all part of the awesome Portland folk scene, which is birthing great musicians like Laura Gibson, Dolorean, Loch Lomond, and anything Hush records puts out.

 

Thursday’s setlist was taken entirely from their two LPs and covered all of their best songs:

 

• Working Poor
• Finch on a Saturday
• Helen
• Mother’s Sick
• Heathen’s Kiss

 

At one point Nate, the young HarryPotterish violinist, traded his fiddle for a saw, which added a layer of eerie atmosphere to the arrangement.

 

They played a tight set, leaving humbly and unencored, despite the cheers.  All hopes of an encore—slim initially because they played first—were dashed violently against the rocks when feedback from the banjo drowned out the final measures of their closing song.  It was terrible, actually, and the HF guys seemed rattled at first, then shrugged it off when we all kept cheering.  I have wondered before if the BC staff don’t just forget about the backstage sometimes, as this is the not first time the sound board has been unmanned there.  The feedback continued to hum lamely for several minutes after they had cleared the stage.

I really believed everyone had come to see HF until Joe Pug (JP) took the stage, and suddenly dozens of high school girls appeared in the crowd and started hollering.

 

Though JP was only one man with an acoustic guitar, he really cranked up the energy level, harnessing the cheering power of his young adoring female fans.  He was very natural and quick on stage, opening with the crack, “Welcome to the 9:30 Club!” and everyone ate it up.  And his comment when niceguy Nate from HF joined him for a song: “Yeah, Nate’s a good guy.  Got some drug problems…And he’s been stealing some of my shit.  But other than that he’s a stand-up dude.”

 

He’s clearly a talented songwriter, whose lyrics and voice and guitar strumming and harmonica blowing are all very natural and strong.  Everything fits together.

 

But despite all his charm and stage presence, his songs all sounded the same.   I waited around to hear him play the one song of his I knew, “Nation of Heat,” but by the time he played it I felt like I’d already heard it eight times that night.

 

All his songs seem like they’re saying something important about life and society.  I kept wondering: how does this guy have so much to say?  And what exactly is he saying?  I’m still not sure, but he speaks with conviction and everybody was listening.  I’d had my fill with HF though, so I left before he finished.

 

I liked JP more when he first walked out on stage than when I left him.  He seemed very sincere at first, and likeable.  But once he got to performing and the love of the crowd got into his bones, I glimpsed an inner DB start to emerge.

 

Too many times we’ve seen talented, earnest singer-songwriters be slowly spoiled by success.  We’ve seen their egos get bloated and warped, and they acquire poppy back-up bands and do GQ covers and make the tabloids for dating Jennifer Aniston.

 

He’s not there yet though.  And if he can keep that inner DB in check, he could actually be great.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
• 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
• 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom