SnowGhost Music

I was born in a big town. Now I live in a small town. These are not the first two lines of a John Mellencamp tribute parody, but more or less my current musical situation. I could probably come up with a lengthy and comprehensive list of both pros and cons of big city versus small town, in which no clear winner would emerge. But in terms of musical culture, big city takes small town out behind small town’s very own red barn and gives small town a big city whoopin’. At least until last week, when small town enjoyed a fleeting but momentous musical victory, bestowing upon 300 lucky concertgoers the best show I’ve seen in at least 3 or 4 years.

The band responsible for this life-affirming experience was Bon Iver (though the opening set from Bowerbirds alone would have been enough). The venue was the Cape Cinema, a place I hadn’t been to before, but a place I will surely revisit, if only to see some foreign movies. I’ve already written about my ongoing disappointment with the current state of live sound, and I was ready to further that opinion after fully enjoying watching (but wanting earplugs or direct access to the soundboard) Violens and MGMT play great sets at the Paradise in Boston earlier in the week. Going to Boston or Providence is what I usually have to do to see good music, but not last week. I simply drove 15 minutes, crossed one town line, waited briefly outside in a light rain, and then sat 7 rows from the stage in a wonderfully spacious old-style cinema. I had a feeling that I had come to the right place, or maybe I felt more like the right place had finally come to me.

Though the sound was a bit muddled in the mids during the first few beautiful Bowerbirds songs, the engineer/owner/operator of the Place figured it out perfectly by the 4th song. Apparently the rains had delayed band travel, and the sound check had been compromised. But just as slight sonic disappointment was setting in, everything went right. Bowerbirds are a trio in every sense of the word, with multi-instrumentalists Beth and Mark playing musical chairs and doing quite a bit of singing and harmonizing with guitar strumming and hi-hat tapping Phil, who did most of the vocals. Their cohesion and spatial respect of each other’s talents had me theorizing that they probably had the most peaceful tour van on the road. I was also wondering how Bon Iver, mostly a one-man band with one great but possibly not-so-stage-translatable album, could possibly top such a pleasing set.

Understand that my expectations were pretty high, especially as the sound system was certainly catering to my audiophile desires. But maybe 38 seconds after Justin Vernon and friends (including the above-mentioned Mark pulling a double feature and handling bass duties) took the stage, I was in complete awe. I love the album For Emma, Forever Ago , but I don’t think I will enjoy it in the same way anymore. It’s an incredibly affecting, mood-bending piece of work, but it is clearly the result of one man in a cabin channeling haunting and beautiful transmissions. On stage and accompanied by obviously in-tune mates, the songs blasted off into another realm. Utterly. It was like finding out that an album you cherished was actually just a cover album, and then hearing that original album on God’s very own sound system.

One of the album’s strengths is the vocal layerings of Vernon’s almost exclusively falsetto voice, a trick that I figured would be difficult to pull off live. I hadn’t counted on him actually having a better voice in person than on record, nor did I know his band was capable of providing him with three-part harmony on nearly every song. The sparseness of the songs also allowed for plenty of tasteful and entirely indie noodling, plus percussive dynamics that I haven’t seen onstage since I used to tag along with my dad to orchestral concerts.

Basically, it was a case of four like-minded musicians understanding exactly what and where they needed to do musically, and they did it with the love and devotion usually reserved for gospel revivals. Needless to say, especially since I’ve probably already said it, I was blown away and praying that the show would never end, along with 299 other newly found devotees. It was pure musical magic, and the band knew it just as well as the audience. Vernon professed his desire to return regularly and received 300 immediate confirmations. This sort of night happens in the big city too, but rarely with such ease and satisfaction. My musical pilgrimages to the cities of the Northeast will continue, but I doubt they will ever leave me feeling quite as good as this.