May 4, 2009

Show review: Vetiver at Iota, May 2nd

“Oh what a good day to go fishing,” quietly crooned Vetiver’s Andy Cabic with his eyes closed and lips quietly working around and accentuating every syllable. "I Must Be In a Good Place Now," originally recorded by Bobby Charles in 1972, was the perfect opener to a night of inspiredly lazy and breezy 60's- and 70's-era folk.

As the band’s founder and scraggly bearded songwriter, Cabic's stamp is of a timeless and oft-forgotten brand of music. In last year's covers record Thing Of The Past, Cabic dusted off a collection of buried classics like Loudoun Wainwright's "Swimming Song" and Towns Van Zant's "Standin'." What started out as a fun way to shed light on under-appreciated songwriters became something even more important for Vetiver: practice. The band, named after a grass native to India, honed their musical chops on the record and transferred those skills to this year's wonderfully crafted Tight Knit.


From "Rolling Sea"—a quiet ballad about sailing—to "Everyday"—a work of pure summer bliss—the band picked generously from Tight Knight to rock the crowd into a dreamy and tuneful haze. Even the chord-changing frenzy and swinging bass of "More Of This" and the funky psychedelia of "Another Reason To Go" couldn't shake the quiet crowd from its concentrated slumber. But that was the point: Vetiver doesn't require nor attract any hollering or drunken conversation, just an enjoyment of great songs—both old and new. The only thing missing was a couple of benches to comfortably park down on and a peace pipe to pass around.

Vetiver - "I Must Be In a Good Place Now" (from Thing Of The Past)

Vetiver

4 comments:

  1. True true. Vetiver rocks...in an awesome peaceful lullaby kind of way.

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  2. Nice write up.

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  3. Loved the Towns Van Zant saturday night. I was thinking to myself that they could do an awesome cover of The Band's 'Ophelia', 'Look Out Cleveland' or 'When You Awake'

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