Vetiver hit the Postbahnhof tonight and what can you say about a band you’ve seen several times before, well for a start they have a new album out, The Errant Charm, of which has been said:
The Errant Charm is a superb soundtrack for an afternoon idyll. Vetiver bandleader Andy Cabic spent hours wandering the streets around San Francisco’s Richmond District, listening to rough mixes, tinkering with lyrics and arrangements. The album opens with “It’s Beyond Me”, a slow boil of acoustic guitar and vintage keyboards over a roomy beat. Here you’ll encounter almost every sonic idea showcased on “The Errant Charm”, the album’s universe distilled into one vibrant song.
Cabic and producer Thom Monahan have already made four Vetiver records together and know each other’s aesthetics well. It was time to experiment more, which was why Cabic didn’t arrive at Monahan’s Los Angeles studio with many completed songs. Instead, they started with lots of loose ideas and fleshed out the best bits. In some instances, they augmented or edited parts by themselves, and at other junctures they waited until the remaining Vetiver players could convene in one place to contribute. Those full band performances figure prominently in the album’s driving midsection… “Right Away”, “Wonder Why”, “Ride, Ride, Ride”… each of these selections is more propulsive and rocking than the one before it. Certainly that was Cabic’s intention for The Errant Charm, to push the dynamic range of Vetiver to previously unheard extremes.
They’re good friends with Devendra Banhart, the ber-godhead of the recent folk-revival, they’ve had everyone play on their first album including Hope Sandoval, they’re a great live band, they make great albums, frontman Andy Cabic has his own record label, they like to drink a lot and party a lot, they’re an awesome live band, they kick ass and they had Beach House support them last time they were here…yes, you heard right Beach House supported them, that’s how good they are. You could say all that if you were feeling lazy which I am so I did. And that’s that.
Prepare for a mesmerising show, there’s just something about them live that other bands cannot achieve. It’s the drugs probably.
Here’s Hurry On Sundown from Thing Of The Past, their also awesome cover version record:
