We hadn’t heard of Damien Jurado but a friend of Lee’s recommended that we go see him, so we got thought we’d give him a try. It can be a bit of a gamble but I love going to watch someone without pre-conceptions and see if they ‘Do it’ for me……..and he did!
We only got to see a bit of Siv Jakobsen – very laid back, nice voice, nice guitar, with tales of bumping her car on the freeway whilst in mid composition – be careful there’s an artist out there.
As happens on most nights at our house, we were listening to Gideon Coe on the kitchen radio and a tune came on that made Lee and I look up at each other and say ‘Ooooh, I like this’ – turns out it was Damien Jurado – “We’ve got tickets for him!” So we knew a little of what we were in for – but the glorious wall of sound that we were hit with was beyond all expectations. His vocals and acoustic guitar rhythms were fantastic. The bass held down some superb lines that had everyone near us dancing around. There was twangy surf guitar. The analogue electronic vibes added a twist to everything and worked so well. And the drummer…..The Drumming was extaordinary – somehow ‘In your face’ and subtle at the same time…..How did he do that!?
He came on for a couple of solo tunes for the encore (a great song about how I’ll always remember you as you are now) and had a chat about how being an ex-punk from Seattle means you find it hard to allow yourself to think about double albums, or even bring more than one guitar on tour.
One more tune with the band and they were gone, leaving the packed crowd with smiles on their faces. “You’re so jolly!” He loves the Brudenell but then – don’t we all!
Bob the Chiropodist