| |
Bazan! Bazan! Bazan!
Bazan pays dearly for his annoying habit of moving rapidly from side to side.
Mike Starr of NBC TV's Ed was the winner of the Damien Jurado Lookalike Contest, and was permitted to perform the Jurado song of his choice.
|
| |
|
I guess electric guitars are just irresistible. When I last saw
Damien Jurado in the fall of 2000, he was playing his standard amplified acoustic.
Each song was a solo, stripped-down rendering of its studio-recorded self.
It was quite an effective show -- just Jurado's singing, his guitar and a
collection of heartrending originals and covers. This time it was
different. Jurado came with a Telecaster, a band and new songs written to
be played loud.
The electric guitar looked strange in Jurado's hands. I
spent half the night wondering if he would break the neck off the body, being used to a much larger-bodied guitar. The sound, besides being louder,
had also changed. Jurado hadn't completely abandoned the intricate guitar
work he employs when giving acoustic performances, but detail took a back seat to a
more rhythmic, strumming-orientated playing style. This change even affected
Jurado's delivery. Rather than being tied to a folding chair, Jurado
stood up to the microphone or bounded around near his amp, as if he
had elected to take some of the emotional energy derived from his acoustic
show and divert it into a visible, physical thing. It wasn't quite KISS,
but it was no longer Pete Seeger, either.
"Some people who have seen this show [with the band] already have been
disappointed. They come up to me afterwards and say 'I can't get depressed
to you now'."
- Damien Jurado's between song banter
I'll admit that I don't reach for a Jurado album when I'm feeling
especially jovial, but his work is not all storm and stress. The songs are
a little too honest to play when you're in a completely carefree
mood, but albums like Rehearsal for the Departure and Ghost of
David aren't just for rainy days, either. The truth of the
matter is this louder, rougher sound has been previewed already. Certain
songs on each of his full length releases push beyond gentleness. "Frustrated", from the Vary EP, released a couple of years ago,
would not have sounded out of place in the list of new songs Jurado
played. These tracks -- as he didn't give titles, I can't be more specific --
are definitely written to take advantage of a band, even more so than past
works like "Yuma, AZ" or "Tornado". There are middle
bridges and semi-rambling end tags, existing to allow the players time to
interact. Jurado has altered his phrasing to sing above a rhythm section
rumble, rather than just sustaining an acoustic purr. He is not straining his voice to
yell, but singing more forcefully, wisely avoiding any radical changes in his singing. Jurado's voice is his best melodic instrument, and changing its friendly approach would alter the Damien
Jurado live experience too much. The new songs roam the same ground as his
older songs, charting the moments when things aren't going well between people,
but because of the change in the music, you are left looking at the
situations differently. An older song like "Medication", with which he opened, leaves you in the corner of the room, watching the characters. The new songs,
at least as they were performed live, don't get you involved in the tussle,
but they don't force you to be a wallflower, either. According to
Jurado, several of these new songs will be on an EP to be released in
August on Burnt Toast Vinyl. It will be interesting to see how this sonic
shake-up sounds in the studio.
In contrast with Damien Jurado, I've yet to see David Bazan, aka Pedro
the Lion, play without a band. With their dovetailed arrangments, Bazan's
songs might not make the transition that well, but I could be wrong. In a
nice touch, Bazan opened his set with "Treasures of Gold", a Jurado
song, playing by himself. Bazan either has a more polished performance
style than Jurado or perhaps he hides his nerves better. Regardless, Bazan seemed more comfortable and relaxed singing in front of a
crowd. Despite admitting to not feeling that well, Bazan still soaked each line in a warm wrap before parsing it out into the air.
Whether pushing itself over the volume of a louder song such as "Never
Leave A Job Half Done" or merely floating along with quiet drum work on
"To Protect the Family Name", Bazan's voice maintains a
nice eloquence. Bazan's set list, unlike Jurado's, was dominated by older
songs, most notably featuring almost all of Winners Never Quit.
The songs were played with obvious familiarity, but without being rote
toss-offs. About the only complaint I had with Pedro the Lion's set was
that the songs seemed clipped. For example, the band seemed to be working
towards a crescendo of sorts at the end of "Big Trucks", but Bazan
cut it off. This happened repeatedly, with the music ready to stretch
out, but being stopped short. There is room for these songs to grow into
something more in a live setting -- but only if Bazan will let them.
I came to this show with certain expectations for how each performer's
set would play out. Damien Jurado pleasantly dashed my thoughts of "more of
the same". One of my favorite performers, he has found a
new way to provoke, rather than always resorting to quiet emotion. David Bazan,
while giving me what I had hoped for, left me in a bit of a lurch following
Jurado's performance by not letting his songs slip free of their constraints.
When Jurado and Bazan perform with a band, their similarities are that
much more apparent. The next time around, perhaps Bazan will take Jurado's lead in
trying something new, and taking his songs someplace else.
Article and photos by Jason Broccardo.
|
