Other Lives + JBM - Mississippi Studios (Portland, OR; Dec. 8, 2011)

[Editor’s Note: there was no photographer on hand to take pictures, so the above picture has been pulled from their last show with Bon Iver]

As good as 2011 has been to Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Other Lives, 2012 isn’t shaping up for any kind of letdown. Start with this year: after releasing their sophomore effort, Tamer Animals, to much deserved acclaim, the band snagged an enviable slot opening for Bon Iver on a tour which brought them to the Portland area for an outdoor gig at Edgefield a mere 10 weeks ago. Since then, the band has toured Europe, tromped around the fjords, and performed at the Iceland Airwaves festival. Then, beginning in February of next year, they’ll open for Radiohead in a series of arena shows that will take them, over a two-week period, from South Beach to the Rocky Mountains. Given the buzz that that jaunt is likely to generate, there may have been some reason to believe that Thursday night’s stop at cozy Mississippi Studios represented a last chance for Portlanders to catch a promising band on its upswing.

Opening for Other Lives was JBM, aka Jesse Marchant, a Canadian singer-songwriter with a haunting voice that is almost overwhelming in its understated beauty. JBM’s set started nearly a half hour late, and the room was reasonably full by the time he took the stage. It could have been a recipe for restlessness, but the cadence of Marchant’s voice over the gentle notes of his guitar had a soothing quality that put any anxieties to rest. Though Marchant moved around the stage from time to time in order to incorporate other instruments, his songs all stuck to the same sonic formula: soft guitar, spare, echoing percussion, and his deep, resonant voice on top of it all. Even when he brought two members of Other Lives on stage to join him, that basic template remained in place. It is contemplative music, and it seemed to have that effect on the audience. Throughout JBM’s set, the crowd steadily grew, but only rarely were his songs greeted with the kind of boisterous reception that seemed in line with the rapt attention he commanded. Paradoxically, that seemed only to confirm how thoroughly Marchant’s performance had succeeded.

Other Lives were set to come onstage in short order, but before they did so, the crowd was treated to an introduction by bandleader Jesse Tabish‘s Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe’s proposition – that the crowd would be treated to a rare solo performance of “Black Tables” if we consented to be subjected to an old family story about Tabish – was initially greeted with cheers, but the deal seemed to unravel when the audience got restless, fueled by some who apparently felt the payoff ought to come first. With his story stalled somewhere short of the punch line, Uncle Joe finally gave way to the band.

Though the room had looked full for JBM, it was outright packed for Other Lives, with all available space being quickly filled in with an influx of fans from the bar next door. And there was no question, they were enthusiastic. Tabish seemed sincerely overwhelmed by the reception the band received, remarking at one point that this was the biggest crowd they had drawn in North America. While Mississippi Studios is far from a large venue, it wasn’t difficult to see what he meant. The band have certainly been the recipients of quite a lot of positive attention this year, but the audience that greeted them in Portland clearly had a far deeper connection to the band than mere scenesters checking out the hype. They called out requests, including a handful for “Paper Cities” off the band’s debut, which Tabish had to admit they’d have to rehearse if and when they ever manage to touchdown back in Stillwater.

Still, the band succeeded in satisfying most requests, highlighted by “Desert,” “Tamer Animals,” and the promised Tabish solo performance of “Black Tables,” which more than justified the anticipation. That completed, Tabish gave a wave and reiterated his gratitude to the crowd, and joined his bandmates backstage. He was only gone for a moment though, and the crowd had barely begun to call for an encore before the band was back. They jumped right into a spirited cover of Leonard Cohen’s “The Partisan,” featuring a lighthearted interlude in which Tabish, drawing on the experience of their recent European tour, discussed certain fundamental challenges of playing the song for a German audience. The performance of that song was as telling as anything else the band did that night. Leonard Cohen covers are not to be undertaken lightly, and Other Lives easily did justice to it, summoning the essence of Cohen while simultaneously making the song their own. But to break character and engage the crowd in conversation mid-song was as ballsy as it was brilliant, demonstrating both a quiet confidence and endearing humility. In retrospect, those traits seem to be representative of the band in a broader sense. How that will play out in basketball arenas when they perform in support of Radiohead is anyone’s guess, but it’s hard to imagine that, when Other Lives next hit town, the band will be defined by anything less.

DOWNLOAD: Other Lives - Tamer Animals (MP3) or Follow us for more Other Lives MP3s (Twitter)

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