an evening with Elvis Perkins in Dearland

I'd like to introduce you to someone special.
Grab a drink, sit in a comfy chair, and press play on the video below.



Stu and I had a long overdue date last night- with each other and with Elvis Perkins. I heard him on KEXP back in the Fall of 2007 and became very excited when I saw he was coming to Seattle soon...in March. I was crushed when I found out that the show listing was old...for March 2007 not 2008. I've been waiting anxiously since then for him to tour again.

Fast forward to March 2009- We drove to Seattle to see the start of his tour last night and our efforts were not wasted. We were both impressed by the obvious fact that Elvis Perkins is no prima donna. Throughout the show we got the sense that the band was a group of friends as well as equals. Elvis spoke very little at first deferring in-between song conversation to his band mates. His humour showed itself later when he mocked himself for starting the first song of the encore off key. And much to the frustration of my short legs he opted not to take a mic at center stage preferring the corner instead, which created an even distribution of players across the stage. Overall, we got a very human impression of the whole band.

If you haven't heard of him before now I encourage you to give a full listen to both Ash Wednesday and his new self-titled release. His lyricism and imagery are impressive and haunting throughout both albums. He paints a picture but doesn't spell everything out for you. His music conveys a sense of wistfulness but it's the equal sense of rising hope that gets me in the gut. This man has seen his fair share of loss and I find his subtle optimism encouraging. He's often compared to Leonard Cohen and, in my opinion, it's well-deserved praise.