Spine and Open

On Thursday night, Half Light played with a Seattle band that we’ve been trying to play with for about a year; they are called Slow Skate.  For me, this was one of those rare experiences when I was elated that I was out seeing like music, especially considering it was midnight on a Thursday.  There is nothing wrong with Slow Skate.  The first thing I was struck by was how great the drummer’s snare drum sounds.  The drummer seemed jazz trained but never got too fancy, and was certainly able to bust out the rock when necessary.  The drummer and stand-up bass player were communicating often, and it was fun to watch them.  The deep, growly bass lines coming from the bass were a perfect push-pull to the perfectly tasty drums.  If you clicked on the first link, and are listening to to Slow Skate right now, you are no doubt enchanted with the PJ Harvey meets Cat Power meets Eleni Mandell vocal stylings.  Caitlin Sherman sits comfortably at the wurlitzer belting out her lovely vocals.  In the live setting, I didn’t even miss the killer harmonies that are strewn all over Slow Skates recordings.  I was certainly drawn into the magical tone coming from theguitar player’s hollowbody Gibson.  Since the piano is laying down a lot of the structure that would normally come from guitar, the guitarist was free to engage in long, flowing, super-tasty lead time lines.  We were also blessed with one amazing guitar solo. 

I only regret that I had to get out of the Comet before I had a chance to purchase Slow Skate’s pink vinyl 7″.  Lucky for all of us, they have quite a few gigs coming up.  I have a crush on you Slow Skate!