Six Organs of Admittance + Mick Turner - Middle East Upstairs (Cambridge, MA; Jan. 27, 2008)

Based on the fact that you are engaged in reading a website dedicated to live music, namely in the Boston Area, I would venture a guess that most of you have been to Middle East Upstairs.  If not, you are missing out.  It is one of the best venues in all of Boston.  The Upstairs is small, but not claustrophobic, the sound is more than decent, and the bar is well-stocked with a fine assortment of comestibles.  But the fact that M.E.U. events rarely see attendance reach above thirty concert goers gives it its essential special quality: intimacy.

When I walked through the door, my view of a familiarly intimate territory evaporated.  M.E.U. was packed.  It was hard to get to the bar, and it was hard to find a decent spot to watch the show.  I knew immediately that the Six Organs of Admittance show was going to be different.

The first song opened with SOOA sitting in a chair, lights dim, ripping haunting country-tinged rhythms on the guitar.  It felt like the setting for a séance in the woods of north Georgia more than a club in the Northeast.  SOOA lulled me into a trance inhabited by ghosts of the past as he covered old traditional standards, spouting lyrics such as, “Death is centrifugal.” He played his guitar smooth and fast, picking at the strings with a real ease that gave off an air less arrogant or showy, than simply as a “fuck you” to those who would play complicated melodies solely for the sake of technicality.  He did his best to make the show an intimate gesture, even under the crowded circumstances.

Just as I was settling in for a moody, quiet night, Elise, a classy rocker with an ambition for slaying the comfort of the aforementioned sleepy melodies, stepped on stage.  At first it looked as if she had accidentally wandered her way up there, stumbling over cords with an overall appearance of nonchalance.  Then she picked up the guitar and charged the mike.  Strictly speaking for the vocals, she added to the haunting nature of SOOA’s sound, but the electricity of her distorted guitar playing ignited the melodies.  Like something out of early Jesus and the Mary Chain, she cut through the sedentary mood of the onlookers.  Elise slashed at the strings of her guitar and shook up the stage.  SOOA changed from a séance to an execution.  It was brilliant.

It is worth mentioning that Elise’s dad came on stage to add some percussion for one song, which gave a brief reprieve from the seriousness of the night and let the band have a little fun.  But other than that, it was two guitars, one on fire and one chugging out the rhythms.  The dichotomy made for an intense and captivating display.  For a band that delights in channeling moody and lulling spirits, SOOA’s live performance threw me for a loop.  They were all rock, blistering and muddy, dirty as rock should be.

Set List
Torn By Wolves
Alone with the Alone
Journey Through Sankuan Pass
Shelter from the Ash
Elk River
Manifestation
Park Noontide
Awaken
Jade Like Wine
Do You Know Me
Hum a Silent Prayer
Dust and Chimes
Strangled Road
A Thousand Birds
Home
Dead Flowers

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