Port City Music Hall, October 2 | SPACE Gallery, September 29
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | October 7, 2009
The ironic thing about Sufjan Stevens's belated debut in Portland was that a big show for this town is an intimate event for him: the sprawling-yet-deeply-personal songwriter/composer brought a relatively small four-person backup band to a long sold-out Port City Music Hall Saturday to perform a mix of "50 states project"-era classics and new songs that hadn't yet been road-tested. There were no costumes, no cheerleaders, no party favors; just earnest quirk and heartache, well-wrought and soberly delivered with a drum-machine pulse.
A subtle but persistent desire for a higher-energy set was quelled by pristine sound and Stevens's whispery tenor. The liberal dose of material from Greetings from Michigan, Illinois, and Seven Swans was difficult to pull off out of context (with a small band and no thematic underpinning), but Stevens handled it well: his religious explorations are still piercing and, at worst, his archaic hyper-local or historical references evoked pleasant nostalgia in the absence of orchestral patriotism ("Who was I four years ago that found this so stirring?"). As for the new material -- jammy and borderline-electronic, but still touching -- it desperately needs some editing (most of the handful of songs approached the 10-minute mark, or felt like it did), but there's a fair shot that Stevens's compositional rigor will still command fawning admiration when it's not sewn together in a tapestry of flawed and glorious Americana.
A few days earlier, an opening set (for the Screaming Females) at SPACE Gallery by the sharp year-old indie-rockers Marie Stella offered an excellent performance by lead singer Sydney Bourke. The former Satellite Lot frontwoman finds the sweet spot between being light and forceful, projecting through intimidating shards of guitar with confidence and, better yet, charisma.
Related:
Stars aligned, Soft sells, Finding even better days, More 
- Stars aligned
The days are growing shorter, the magazines are (well, barely) getting larger and meatier, and the first batch of cider doughnuts is on the way real soon: all sure signs of autumn, as is the bountiful crop of prestigious concerts coming our way this season.
- Soft sells
Quiet is the new loud, pretty is the new rocking, and acoustic is the new electric. The Mountain Goats, "Woke Up New" (YouTube)
- Finding even better days
Gypsy Tailwind have been a slow build. Though Halo Sessions was one of the best local albums of 2008, it seems no one really heard it until 2009, thanks largely to the radio success of "So Lonely," a single whose melancholy bounce was heartbreakingly honest: "I'll tell you a secret: I drank myself to sleep last night."
- Come on, feel the California
"O! Arnold: Our Fine-Feathered Foreign [sic] Friend Who, Despite The Public’s Misgivings Concerning His Qualifications, Became, In Quite The Expedient Manner, A Night Beaming Golden God-Head For Dear Old C.A."
- Behind the (local) music
“Working in a studio for so many years, we get to work closely with musicians when they are at their most creative — and most vulnerable,” says Marc Bartholomew, audio engineer and co-runner of Hanover Street’s Acadia Recording Company.
- Music Seen: Femi Kuti, the Loblolly Boy
On record, Femi Kuti can't help but come off as a slightly vanilla version of his mad genius father Fela (popularizer of Afrobeat music, also known for having 12 wives at once, among other things).
- Portland Music News: June 19, 2009
Yeah, this makes us feel a little old: The June 27 show at the Port City Music Hall will be a 20th anniversary show for TWISTED ROOTS . SUN GODS IN EXILE (fresh off a release show for their debut album) and SIDECAR RADIO open, and there's word that original TR bassist NEIL COLLINS will sit in for a few songs.
- Music Seen: Neko Case + Haru Bangs
First things first: Neko Case is the complete package, an unmitigated bombshell (gorgeous, wry, self-effacing) with a singular artistic vision (country/folk songs so heavy on metaphor and animistic and obscure mythological references that you could — and should — unpack them for months) and a voice like an air-raid siren.
- Music seen: 48 Hour Music Festival
"Never underestimate the power of the repeated note" was a dictum drilled into my head. Bands at SPACE gallery on Saturday night employed this method liberally, and to great success.
- The Wee Trio | Capitol Diner Vol. 1
The up-front news is that this vibes-bass-drums trio include the now-obligatory post–Bad Plus contemporary pop covers, in this case Nirvana and Sufjan Stevens.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, More
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Sufjan Stevens, Sufjan Stevens, Sufjan Stevens, SPACE Gallery, SPACE Gallery, Sydney Bourke, Sydney Bourke, Less
