Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton + Damien Rice

Emily Haines:
Singer of Metric finds an outlet for her more mellow, introspective, slow music.
I like the album "Knives Don't Have your Back." it's an interesting foil to Metric's driving rock sound. The song "Our Hell" is particularly nice, showcasing Emily's voice exquisitely on interesting lyrics.
Honestly, I think Emily belongs in Metric. Metric's albums are full of energy balanced with beautiful contrasts on mellower songs like the poignant "The Police and the Private" from Live It Out. I think Emily has a talent for the slower, softer, maybe more minimal sound, but the Soft Skeleton is not the means for this end.
I finally came to this decision at the concert. Usually shows push my opinion decidedly in one direction, and this is one of the few times the direction was negative.
The singing was on point as always, but uncharacteristically detached and awkward. The band was fine and all, and they played everything right on, but it seemed like they were on another stage from Emily.
This is not to say it was a bad show. The music is great and the performance was well-done, but it just didn't meet my expectations.
At the same time, I definitely would recommend checking out "Knives Don't Have Your Back," and I think that in time the band may mesh and the group could turn into something amazing. Who knows?
The Tall Firs, who opened, were a talented guitar + drum trio. The guitar writing reminded me of my Atlanta band, The Belljar, which is of course a compliment. The songs are quite slow, so it made for a little bit of an awkward audience, but they were entertaining. Both guitarists sang, and the one who sang the least probably had the most appealing voice. That's really my only complaint. The drummer was great, and added a bit of a novel element in his aggressive drumming behind very slow moving chord changes and floating melodies. I think if I knew the music better, I might have really loved the concert, but that is a big if.



Damien Rice:
This is my second time seeing Damien. The first time, at some stupid Bank of America venue, he was opening for Fiona Apple. At the first show, he did an amazing short set. I am very impressed by his cellist and the band as a whole. He is quite a talent, and he's created his own genre with the heavy, distorted acoustic guitar and the loop pedal. The second concert, where he was headlining, was at the Orpheum, which I think is my favorite genre in Boston. It was a great place to see someone like Damien, and most of the concert was just as moving and entertaining as the previous concert. However, in the full-length show, he got way too carried away with looping his voice and his guitar, creating strange percussive noises, and leaving his band behind. That trick is cool for interludes, bridges, and some times postludes, but when they get to be 5, 10 minutes, they are just annoying. Besides that, great concert. Although the recent album, 9, has not yet caught up in my opinion to his breakthrough album, "O," I'm hoping it will continue to grow on me. I also hope that he will grab back some of the intensity he found in songs like "I Remember" (O) and the lilting, lonely, and unmistakably British style of "Cheers Darlin'" (O). He did not perform the former, (I Remember), at his second concert, which did upset me some and bias my opinion. But the loop solos were definitely too long.

I'll tell you about the Camera Obscura concert after this weekend!

And for the "Beer" section, I'd like to note once more that I love Trader Joe's. I also love The Other Side, which is my new favorite bar, and I want to reiterate that I officially don't love Linwood Grill, which used to be a favorite for its inclusion of multiple Stone taps.