Soho Santa Barbara, in conjunction with Club Mercy, rose to the occasion for a second straight night, with the appearance of Jason Lytle. After a packed, and rather vocal, house for Beth Orton the previous night, this show was criminally ill-attended, and it was totally their loss. Lytle seemed to dispense with a set list, making it up as he went, and pulled off what turned out to be a very special night. The maximum number of people I counted over the course of the night was 18, but they were blessed, as Lytle gave stunning renditions of tracks from his brand new LP, Dept. Of Disappearance, the previous Yours Truly, The Commuter, as well as grabbing Grandaddy tracks from his past, and throwing in a breathtaking, (and relevant), cover of the Beach Boys "In My Room". It was nice to finally see Grandaddy back in August, and lay that particular ghost to rest. Grandaddy favorites included "Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)" and "Underneath The Weeping Willow" from Sophtware Slump, as well as "I'm On Standby" from Sumday. Working with only one other player, he worked on guitar and keyboards, occasionally switching off to a piano.
To see Lytle unleash one of his finest works, and then see it performed in a small club is the veritable frosting on the cake. Rather then dwell on the town folk who couldn't get up off it for this show, I'd rather shine a light on the two youngsters who drove all the way up from LA just for this! Hopefully, their memories of the show rival mine. One of the benefits of the sparse turnout, however, was the ability to curl up at the foot of the stage, and when Lytle's keyboards were at full burble, it was like being inside your own spaceship.
Opening the show, and setting the tone for the whole evening with a heartfelt performance in front of even less people, was Sea Of Bees. The Sacramento based project is masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Jules, and onstage was joined by Amber for thrilling harmonies. "Gone" and "Take" from the current LP, Orangefarben were the highlights of the night. Next up for them is a trip to the U.K.
Jason Lytle: Dept. Of Disappearance-out now on Anti-
In an embarrassment of riches for Santa Barbara, a stretch of three days of top.shelf singer/songwriters hit town. First up was Beth Orton, fresh off a six year hiatus, celebrating her new LP Sugaring Season on Anti- Records. Getting married, having kids, breaking writers block, and moving towards more of a pure folk vision all influence this triumphant return to action.
Soho being a restaurant, as well as a music performance space, is never more evident than on a Saturday
night, and after a hello, she immediately called out the audience for talking over the opening act, (her husband Sam Amidon). It was a nice piece of work, and a far cry from her stage nervousness in days past. Having cleared the air, she launch into Sugaring Season's opening track "Magpie", and the spell was cast. Over the course of the evening, she worked in dollops of her back catalogue, including a luminous reading of "Pass In Time" from Central Reservation, but the evening's main focus, as it should be, was on the current. Joined by Amidon on violin for a few tunes, she maintained her intensity throughout what turned out to be a winning evening.
Sam Amidon provided the opening honors, and in a short set, managed to give a clean accounting of his talents, spinning esoteric stage patter while maintaining a deadpan expression. He dropped in a John Martyn cover, before switching off to violin, transforming scratchy noise into an intense jig. After which, he switched off to banjo for a bluegrass excursion, then dropped a cover of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels", which seemed to grab the crowd's attention briefly. His allusion to a babbling brook in the intro to his last
song was lost on the three middle aged matrons in front of me, tongues apparently loosened with alcohol, who babbled on
ceaselessly, toward the ends of time.
