Missoula is a song for the roaming and an ode to the Unknown. There are so many transient people on the planet today, both fleeing and voluntarily in motion. I can’t speak for their experience, but as an artist, I find myself moving often. There is the desire to stay, the urge for going, and the split feelings of being a floating, uprooted bag of mostly water. Missoula has a repetitive Hebraic melody at it’s center, coming from a lineage of wandering Jews. A nod to one of my favorite Pentangle recordings, Let no man steal your thyme. - Tasseomancy
In a truly inspired pairing of two Canadian bands, Montreal's Braids is touring with Toronto's Tasseomancy, and last night that tour brought them to the 529 in Atlanta.
Tasseomancy is the band of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman, who we've seen a few times before as Austra's backing singers (we've also seen Austra perform without the Lightmans). Their music is a psychedelic form of folk rock with both sisters singing and one also playing mandolin, guitar, and keypads. They're backed by a keyboardist and drummer.
Their music was hypnotic and gently trippy, and their stage banter revealed the sisters to be open and engaging persons. Tasseomancy hits a perfect groove somewhere between laid-back but dark folk rock and electro-pop, sort of like a less dance-oriented Prince Rama or a tranced-out Joanna Newsom. They can seamlessly trade vocal lines during a song, like two twins completing each others' thoughts, and vocalize like two hearts beating as one. Good stuff, and a great start to the evening.
Braids, as always, put on a great show, playing everything from near-ambient electronica to electro-pop to soulful ballads to anthemic rock, without once falling completely into any classifiable genre. Singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston is a more than capable bandleader and frontperson, at times charming the audience with her songs and personality and at other times scolding some noisy patrons for talking too loudly in the back of the club. And just like their lead singer, the band never settled in one place or one mood for long before taking a sharp turn to some new and wholly unexpected direction.
We've seen Braids twice before, once opening for Wye Oak at Terminal West and once opening for Purity Ring at Buckhead Theater, and both times they blew us away. At Terminal West, we were impressed by the band's genre-transcending songwriting, balanced as they are between experimentalism and popularism, and at Buckhead Theater, we were particularly struck by Standell-Preston's impressive singing abilities. Last night, we got a good chance to see the whole band interacting and contributing to the sound, and we were impressed by all three of the members, particularly their powerful but artful drummer (who also contributed on keypads and vocals).
We've come to appreciate Braids through their live performances. We hadn't heard them before we saw them open for Wye Oak, when they made quite an impression, and we almost forgot them before we saw them again when they totally blew us away opening for Purity Ring. We strongly encourage you to see this band perform if you ever get the chance. As great as their recordings sound, they're even better live - more powerful and more dynamic - and they're fast becoming one of our favorite bands. We can't wait to hear what they come up with next.
Tasseomancy performing with Austra, The Earl, Rocktober 2011
In the good-things-just-keep-getting-better department, it has been learned that Tasseomancy will be opening for Braids at 529 on Friday, October 16.
Tasseomancy is the musical project of sisters Sari and Romy Lightman. Influenced by the likes of Robbie Basho, Broadcast, Mary Margaret O'Hara, and Alice Coltrane's Turiya Sings, the band has developed a unique sound that combines the lyrical and vocal traditions of folk music with the experimental attitudes of psychedelia, new wave, and new age music. In 2011, they released Ulalume, a collaborative record with Timber Timbre, while also joining the electronic queer group, Austra. They've since left that band to focus on their own project, and in May 2015 are set to release Palm Wine Revisited.
Austra ("OH-stra") have released the official video to go with their song Home, but YouTube won't let me post it here due to some sort of copyright issue (why put up an embed code, then?), so here's a live version:
It's nice to see the Tasseomancy twins playing with her at SXSW (they weren't along when she opened for The xx at The Tabernacle). In any event, we might get to see the full Austra band, including Tasseomancy, as MFNW just announced that Austa will be playing there this year. This is the second line-up announcement for the Portland festival, following the prior news that Godspeed You! Black Emperor will be performing for two consecutive nights.
For those staying closer to home (and if your home is Atlanta), and/or if my MFNW plans fall through, Austra will be coming to The Earl on September 17, 2013.
