EVENING HYMNS, FOREST CITY LOVERS, JENNY OMNICHORD, D’URBERVILLES at the Garrison Rating: NNNN
Fri, Jan 22 at the Garrison
Local indie label Out of This Spark had a lot to celebrate at their third anniversary. Not only have they put out some great records this year, but they’ve also enjoyed a significant profile boost thanks to the success of Timber Timbre, who helped snag them international distribution through Arts & Crafts. No wonder the gig was sold out well in advance.
And it looks like 2010 is already shaping up nicely. Their first release of the year, Evening Hymns’ Spirit Guides, has garnered rave reviews all around. The band’s moody, intricately arranged tunes translated amazingly well onstage, and were easily the highlight of the night.
Not that the other acts were letdowns. Jenny Omnichord’s quirky one-woman band (featuring inventive use of her namesake instrument) was indisputably charming, and the D’Urber-villes put in an energetic, crowd- pleasing performance. Indie folk band Forest City Lovers sounded a lot less twee at high volume, and the rock power suits them better than you might expect.
At night’s end, remaining audience members were treated to a few songs by an Out of This Spark supergroup made up of members of each band (which makes sense, given how many OOTS bands share members) – a great example of the musical community developing around this label.[rssbreak]
