Live DC: Bodies Of Water / Port O’Brien @ The Cat

August 21, 2008 by Svetlana  Send to a Friend

all photos: Lexie Moreland

This was a really terrific show.
Perfectly matched, expertly curated, just really terrific.
So much so that I have been delaying writing about it because I am 101% sure I am probably unable to relay the terrificness of it all in words. Peter should have been covering this. But, we have some amazing photos from Lexie and features on both bands to carry you over so, brace yourselves and…here we go:

Thing to remember:
This all went down on a Sunday.
Going to a show on Sunday for me is the equivalent of a death sentence (see results here) but I am such a fan (though not as big as some others are, as you will shortly see) that I made an exception. And am glad I did.
Decent crowd showed up (unlike some other Sunday shows I’ve been though) though, as Jeff said: “This shit should have been sold out. And on the mainstage”

And this is why:

First up was Port O’Brien. They are a band from San Francisco who sing of nature, fishing and drink whiskey on stage. Visually: a lot of hair. Of all persuasions. Blonde, Brunette, Red, curly, straight, thick, fine…all the better to swing around while playing some of the most amped up folk rock whatever-it-is you’ve heard in a while. Cross Fleet Foxes with The Dodos and you have an idea. But more charming.

The lead singer (and bonafide Alaskan fisherman) Van Pieszlowski is funny and self deprecating and even if he did not sing amazingly and play the guitar like a banshee I would still show up just for the on-stage banter.

A girl in the front screamed “This is the song I came for!” when they announced their second number and he promptly invited her (Emily, she screamed her name was) onto the stage to “just vibe with them” and I swear I had not seen someone be that happy since that kid got pulled onto the stage during the Devendra show.

This is her in the process of vibing:

They busted through some more acoustic, dreamier numbers first (with David from Bodies of water playing the keys), invited everyone to buy some buttons, since selling buttons was Van’s idea and then seriously made people in DC bang pans (they bring them) and scream along during the closing number.

It was all very intense but intensely amazing too.
Emily, I am pretty sure, will never forget it.
I actually wanted to ask her to write a paragraph for this but after seeing her get so excited during the pots and pans portion I got a little scared.
So-Emily if you are reading this…comment with your review.
Everyone else, if you are reafing this- do not miss Port O’Brien ever again.
Do we have ourselves a deal?

Then a brief break and we went to look at the demolition derby car. Here it is:

Then back in:

Bodies of Water comes on. Some people who saw them when they were here last time said that they were not as awesome as back then but I don’t know… I thought they were pretty whup-ass. It did take them a song or two to catch up with themselves and the elaborateness of their self-prescribed harmonies but “Only You” and onwards I was in heaven.

They have a violinist with them as well, and the girl is top notch, and the band has a lot of joy for what they do (not as raucuous of a joy as Port O’Brien but a joy nonetheless) and once Meredith hit her stride, the girl’s voice could destroy souls in seconds.
When “Under the pines” came on, I was already not in DC but in a forrest somewhere sitting in a circle getting ready for some good ghost stories to be sung to me. In 4 person harmonies preferably.
The band builds to a climax like no other band you’ve seen before, and all those Morricone comparisons aside, you know how some film producer made Spindrift a movie to go with their music? Bodies of Water deserves the same thing.

I mean, look at these photos:

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