Okay, so Pollstar is the only place that says this show is happening since the Buccaneer’s MySpace isn’t exactly the most up-to-date social effing network on the planet. But why isn’t there more fanfare for a band whose latest release was on NPR’s Top 10 Albums of 2010 chart? Who the hell knows…
Originally from Long Beach, CA, The Red River are an eight or ten or whatever-they-feel-like-at-the-time-piece that plays music that…..well…..their press bio says it best: “…rides an even keel, swooning gracefully between the intimate, close, and minimal, and billowy piles of polyphony; feeling like you had a party and everyone who came brought a voice, a horn, a string, and it all fell together just so. Which, in a way, is what happened.”
The now Portland-based group has been stirring up buzz this year with their debut full-length, Little Songs About The Big Picture out on Brave Records. Bob Boilen of NPR cites the album as something that “…celebrates the mundane. At times, the way songwriter and lead singer Bill Roberts writes about the wonder of life, it’s reverent, bordering on religious. And when his eight friends join in — on viola, French horn, keyboard, drums, guitar and other voices — and this nine-piece band does its slow build, it feels spiritual and sentimental.”
So with all this crap about lots of instruments and praises for songs about the simple, your probably wondering what the album actually freaking sounds like. Well, at first you think it’s a joke or something. Like a cheap keyboard demo. But then you realize it’s not…..at all. With hints of the electronic grooves and enunciated singing of Postal Service, the large band turns it into an otherwise acoustic, low-key, beautiful, melodic encounter. Lots of vocals provide an intimate, yet sing-along experience like I’ve never heard before. Check out this video of their Tiny Desk Concert from NPR:
Anyway, enough of the yapping. I hope this show is actually happening. It’s supposedly Sunday night at the Buccaneer, and looks like a last minute addition to their tour through the area. So just go and hope for the best. I don’t know what time…don’t ask me.
MySpace /Facebook /Bob Boilen (NPR) Top 10 Albums of 2010
