06 Aug 12

Hey, blogspot readers, it's another rockin' jamboree deep within the heart of Lakeview on a Monday night! Tonight, at Schuba's Tavern, many came out to the first perfomances of The New Folk & Practice Space residency featuring top notch local folk bands/artists like Common Shriner, Jonas Friddle, Band Called Catch, New Folk and Cyndy Fike rockin' the stage every Monday during the month of August. New Folk will be releasing their debut album, Sea Fever, on Aug 27th. For more information about upcoming shows, visit http://www.schubas.com.

~ The Damn Choir

Tonight, the audience was treat to a lineup featuring performances by Cyndy Fike and Jeremy Keen and the False Starts with The Damn Choir as headliner. Comparing this performance to the one seen earlier during the spring, SouthSide thoroughly enjoyed this show and highly suggests checking out this local band at their next scheduled show. This quintet of musicians brought to the stage such intensity amidst high energetic momentum highlighting the emotional vocal falsetto (from front man/guitarist Gordon) and harmonizing backing vocals that she didn't hear at their The Hideout performance. At times, you could literally feel the intense sound of The Damn's melodic Americana/folk (with some pop/alternative) music besides hearing it uplift your soul to which the vocals wonderfully translate the fierce passion and emotions within its three-part harmonies. After opening the set with a moving yet boisterous blast of sound and vocals conveying the melodic aria tone in Road, The Damn Choir rocked the audience's senses with differentiating tempos of happy-go-lucky feel (with the tambourine adding a touch a lively, toe-tappin' beat) to downtempo rhythms and upbeat energy. There was even a moment when the band performed an impromptu jam while switching between guitars to keep fans and audience wrapped inside the organic-ness of their folk vibe.

Yet, the intensity wasn't only reserved for the music, blogspot readers, but was also heard within the vocals too. It seemed we were meant to ride this emotional wave of feelings as taken straight from the songwriter's heart and  placed throughout each of The Damn's lyrics. It was amazing of what one could feel from their music and words combined within such intensity. For example, check out the new song - Creatures of Habit in which Gordon grabbed the heartstrings with an outpour of emotions behind his strong falsetto voice while the upbeat music nicely matches the mood and tone of the song. Or listen to Nowhere, where it was directly the opposite. Though in a slight downtempo rhythm, SouthSide enjoyed the liveliness of this particular song but more importantly it was to highlight the strengeth of Gordon's falsetto voice not the music (in her opinion) ...and especially liking the acapella harmonies towards the end. This reviewer truly felt him and his emotional side during another particular song in which he pleaded "...did I mention I'm falling in love with you..." yet during Devil's Frown you could still hear (and feel) his vocal intensity of angst and dynamic tone even while rockin' to the band's toe-tappin' energy and sound. And The Damn, without the intense tone, performed a vividly image-laiden ballad to which Gordon's voice pops to life amidst the soothing melodic lull of the bass cello while the rest of the band takes the harmony route inside the music.

For more information about The Damn Choir, visit http://www.thedamnchoir.com.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide