Thursday, January 15, 2015

Recording: Jennifer Castle

Artist: Jennifer Castle

Songs: Downriver + Like a Gun

Recorded at Double Double Land, December 21, 2014.

Jennifer Castle - Downriver

Jennifer Castle - Like a Gun

Jennifer Castle's Pink City release show was a real treat, but this solstice special/birthday celebration was something else entirely. The exposure that the album has been getting indicates that she could fill a much larger venue, so one might have thought this barely-announced set at DDL might be just a "casual" night where she could take things easy, musically speaking. Instead, she brought a full band, employing many of the same people that'd recorded the album with her for a completely different set. [You can contrast the band sound with the solo take of "Downriver" that I'd posted a while back.]

Joining her were Dave Clarke (acoustic guitar), Jonathan Adjemian (keybs), Mike Smith (bass), Paul Mortimer (guit), Ryan Driver (flute/melodica/snare/b vox) and Felicity Williams (backing vox) — a formidable list of talents. They didn't tend to rev things up too much, preferring instead a relaxed lope — a drummerless stoner drift that embroidered details into Castle's songs. The set focused on the new album, but dipped back for a few older faves (like "Powers" and "Way of the Crow") as well as the cover of The Flatlanders' "Keeper of The Mountain" that she recently tackled for an online session. One of the year's last shows turned out to be one of the very best — in a just world, Castle would be able to take a crew like this on the road and blow minds from coast to coast to coast.

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