S Carey & White Hinterland at Eddie's Attic, Atlanta, May 11, 2014

In one of the most startlingly non-rock'n'roll moves of the year, the promoters and proprietors of Decatur's Eddie Attic decided to put on a show featuring S. Carey (of Bon Iver) and White Hinterland starting at 7:00 pm, still the height of Atlanta's rush hour and an hour too early to allow one to eat some dinner beforehand - I had to arrive directly from work without even stopping home to feed the cats.

So with that off my chest, it was a great show, due entirely to the artistry of the performers and not the constant "shushing" of Eddie's management to the audience (note to Eddie's Attic: you might want to reevaluate your attitude toward your audience and honestly decide if promoting music shows is the right livelihood for you).

So, with that now off my chest, White Hinterland opened at 7:00 sharp (note the daylight coming in through the window at the upper right).  White Hinterland is Scituate, Massachusetts' vocal powerhouse Casey Dienel, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and keyboard and loop-supported one-woman band.  She performed an emotive and stylistically diverse set of songs, ranging from quiet voice-over-keyboards songs to rhythmically complex orchestrations of multiply looped vocals.

    

Her set included a terrific cover of Leon Russell's ballad, Song For You.

Her set ended concluded with a call-and-response piece with the audience (poorly) attempting to match her wordless vocalizations, but as the keyboards slowly dropped out of the mix and Casey's unaccompanied voice filled the room (she even moved away from the microphone and sang unamplified), an otherwise cliched moment became truly transcendent. 

After that, the audience didn't want her set to end and at only 7:45 pm, it didn't seem like it should have to, but all was quickly forgiven when Eau Clair, Wisconsin's (god, I'm so specific today) S Carey took the stage.  

 

We've seen S Carey once before, back in June 2011 when he opened for David Bazan (Pedro the Lion). Much like Bon Iver, for whom he plays drums, S Carey's music is hard to classify, ranging at times from quiet, polite balladry, to rhythmic, tribal percussion, to indie rock with electronic flourishes and coloration. To put it another way, he's a skilled interpreter of his music, willing to add whatever elements are necessary to convey the emotional content of his songs.

S Carey performed several new songs from his new album, Range of Light, and ended his set with a great one-two punch, staring with his probably best-known song, In The Dirt. 

In The Dirt, including its enthusiastic audience clap-along, was then followed by White Hinterland joining him on stage to cover Bjork.

@hessie via Instagram

Despite the early hour and the restrictive (repressive?) nature of Eddie's management, there was still something magical about the performances, the evening, and the artists.  I can't wait to see White Hinterland and S Carey perform someday at a real venue.