Weyes Blood Concerts & KEXP Instudio 2019

Newly signed Sub Pop artist Weyes Blood is anything but new. She has been forging her unique-yet-nostalgic sound across multiple albums over the years, but on her latest offering Titanic Rising, her magic has been truly revealed.

I had a chance to see Weyes Blood & co. perform 3 times so far this year, and here’s my take:

The Tractor Tavern - May 2019

To a sold out crowd earlier this year at the Tractor Tavern, Seattle was washed in the spell of Weyes Blood’s intricate melodies of this new album (and a few old songs as well). It’s true that the song structures are works of art in their own right, but Natalie Mering’s (aka Weyes Blood) voice is the true stunner of her sets.

The thing about nostalgia is it’s relative to each person. Weyes Blood’s voice and melodies likely sound familiar to me because I was an 80s baby, with parents who were listening music akin to The Carpenters and Fleetwood Mac. Those are the sounds that remind me of my childhood, as a result. Weyes Blood channels much of the energy and harmonies from both outfits, but weaves some modern technology into the mix of her work as well.

KEXP instudio - May 2019

The stark white suit Weyes Blood wears is an iconic piece of this tour. I was told as much, as she warmed up her vocals at the KEXP instudio I photographed - she asked me to please wait to document with photos until after she had changed into the stylish number.

It makes sense, the crisp, pure suit absorbs what is cast onto it. For her song “Movies,” a projection of blue and green lights are displayed boldly across the white fabric.

KEXP’s DJ Abbie.

Likely custom made, the intricate bead detailing in off white is stunning. Specifically, the slit along each elbow is highly stylized.

Check out the full performance on KEXP, here (you might even spot me in the wide shots!):

Concerts at the Mural - August 2019

Each August, KEXP teams up with the Seattle Center to put on the Concerts at the Mural series, where curated free performances appear in front of the large mural next to the Space Needle on Fridays. I was delighted to hear I’d be getting to see Weyes Blood live again so soon - who played almost a full set, sitting at about 12 different songs.

All of the hits from Titanic Rising made an appearance at the mural set. In contrast to her show at the Tractor Tavern, she did treat us to a new cover. This time, she shared her rendition of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” of Procol Harum fame. Back in May, Weyes Blood had brought a cover of “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys.

Of course, the Seattle Center performance included “Movies,” the song I just cannot get enough of. Even in the daylight, the projector truly danced atop her staple white outfit. This song is my summer song, my song of the year, and could be the song of my decade. Again, nostalgia is subjective, and so is preference, but the album Titanic Rising, and the song “Movies” has touched me in the depths of my subconscious. It’s the song I didn’t know I needed.

I implore you to do everything you can to see Weyes Blood’s music live!

Better Oblivion Community Center at KEXP 3.17.19

Last Sunday morning, March 17, 2019, many folks were crowding around the Seattle Center fountain in spandex, ready for their St. Patrick’s Day run. I was there too, but I was getting ready for one of the most memorable KEXP instudios I will ever experience - Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst, aka Better Oblivion Community Center, a new band that combines my current tastes with the old.

Phoebe Bridgers has been popping up everywhere lately, her album Stranger in the Alps (originally released in 2017) has the incredibly catchy single “Motion Sickness” which was a go-to for me in the past couple of years. Her voice is a true one-of-a-kind. There is a lulling mourn in her sound. The harmonies Bridgers creates (she typically will have two vocals of here own layered on top of each other) evoke a story even without the meaning behind the lyrics themselves. She isn’t a tragic soul, but there is certainly a depth and pain in her background. Even in moments that would standardly feel lackluster if they were executed by another artist, the monotony of her sound becomes riveting in its lingering.

Conor Oberst has been around for a very long time - creating music even earlier than when he burst onto the indie/emo scene in ‘95 as Bright Eyes. At his core, Oberst was always a simple sounding singer, but a complex songwriter. His vocals are unmistakable as well, sometimes he sounds like he just having a conversation with someone else, often with a vulnerability as if there’s a tear to fall following his message.

Bridgers and Oberst have another thing in common as well, they both have their own solo projects but collaborate often. Oberst was recently involved in a resurgence of the post-punk outfit, Desaparecidos, which was one of the first live shows I ever photographed for KEXP back in the fall of 2012. Bridgers is also a part of the supergroup boygenius, which is made up of singers Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus as well. All of this culminates in 2019, when Bridgers and Oberst announced their own collaborative effort, Better Oblivion Community Center.

Oberst had previously had Bridgers open for him on another tour, and really appreciated the sad music she was making. He said he believed her music would help people feel better - explaining that it, at least, made him feel better.

The two had been crafting songs here and there together, not sure about whose albums the songs would end up on in the future, when eventually they began to realize the songs sort of belonged together as their own standalone thing. Now we’ve got a mouthful-of-a-band-name an a full LP via Dead Oceans.

The result is much of what you might expect, melodic and somber harmonizations with detailed lyrics. A song titled “Dylan Thomas” speaks of dying on the bathroom floor as a result of a seizure, something that specifically terrorizes me to my core. Such specific story-telling can alienate some listeners, but for me, I feel closer to the artists behind the work if what they have to share isn’t generic.

With all of this being said, I was completely floored to shoot the Better Oblivion Community Center performance at KEXP last week. Both performers were incredibly humble, as expected, yet still I had nerves creeping up on me because both musicians were so big to me for different reasons. Phoebe Bridgers probably is my favorite female vocalist at the moment, and Conor Oberst brings me back to an age where I was discovering music for myself for the first time - truly discovering it, as the internet was ever powerful and relatively new at the time of my teens.

Both Bridgers/Oberst and co. were perfectionists. The session started a bit late as all of the technical details were sorted and made just right. Once all was ready to go, the band ran through “Dylan Thomas”, “Didn’t Know What I Was In For”, “Little Trouble” (a new song that the duo jut released) and “Easy / Lucky / Free”, a Bright Eyes cover, which the group recorded twice to get just perfect. Bridgers opted for a mic only for this song, and got closer to her counterpart by offering her mic to him while he tended to the guitar work.

Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers with Jim Beckmann and Cheryl Waters of KEXP.

After the session, I was able to grab a few portraits for the station and got to talk a bit about Seattle and our music scene state right now with the duo. Bridgers reminisced about past years spent at the Bumbershoot music festival at the Seattle Center. Oberst asked for me to mimic a dramatic fish-eye portrait of them (at the top of this entry) as he had been really loving the fish-eye look his friend had been using in their press shots that were recently taken. I gave it a try and he gave me a hair flip.

Phoebe and Conor were two of the sweetest musicians I’ve ever gotten to shoot. Their album (that I’ve currently listened to more times than my favorite band’s recently released album) is going to be a classic among the 2019 releases. I’m really hoping there is much more to come from this pairing, and it’s not a one-off thing - they both have so many projects, but there is something special about this combo and the eloquent, sad songs they have created together.

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Check out the entire performance from KEXP below (you may spot me in the wide shots of the full studio doing my thing!):

John Maus at Washington Hall 12.1.18

If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, it probably has led to music, and then to my favorite musicians that I’ve gotten to photograph and which moments have stood out the most to me. It always comes back to John Maus. I’ve written about him here, here, here, and most recently, here.  Having said so much already, why write about him again?

This Saturday night, Maus performed a solo show at Washington Hall in Seattle. The venue was large for Maus and the crowd mature.  The stage at Washington Hall has an outline of lights, directing your attention to the only person on stage. 

Upon Maus’ arrival, he took a few moments huddled to himself before playing his initial backing track to sing over. This is a ritual of Maus’, a moment of silence before the coming eruption of emotion and sound.  Although this is par for the course for Maus, there is a subtle elephant.

This tour is Maus’ first solo tour in 6+ years.  After about 5 years of digital silence, Maus reemerged with his album Screen Memories and returned with a backing band in 2017.  He toured with his band until Summer 2018, when his band mate and brother Joe Maus unexpectedly passed away while on tour in Latvia.

The rest of that European tour was cancelled, life changed, and Maus announced this solo tour.

Returning for the longest solo set I’ve ever seen him perform, Maus plunged through his many songs.  Starting with “My Whole World’s Coming Apart,” and then later “Keep Pushing On,” and “And the Rain” – songs so resonating in this present moment and the many to come.  The crowd was audible, but it took until about halfway through the set, right around “Rights for Gays” or “Pure Rockets,” for it to feel like a true John Maus set.  The ones I remember from his previous solo days.  A small mosh circle was formed and people thrusted their firsts towards Maus while he was motioning towards them.    

A glance around the room and you could visibly see people dancing, jamming, responding and receiving (whatever you want to call it) in their own ways to the performance.  A look up to one of the ledges along the side of the venue and you’d find a timid family seated right next to another group of friends who were completely lost in their rhythmic swaying to each song.

In a brief and somber slowness towards the end of the evening, Maus performed “And Heaven Turned to Her Weeping,” from Songs, a song I did not know he ever performed live.  Via statics from setlist.fm, it looks like their data shows he performed it before in 2007, but has performed it a few times now in 2018.   A few lyrics from the ballad include:

“Even though you’re far away from me, you’re in my dreams // and it’s hard to erase you from my memories… Cause this is the time for loving you // but you’re not here with me”.

Maus returned for two encores, another first for me -  the second of his encores ending on his iconic “Believer,” from We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.

As a fan, it is worrisome that this might be Maus’ farewell to Seattle, for now; a gift of another solo tour where he extends himself as much as possible on stage for us.  As someone who feels like a friend, I am happy and proud for John, who has no doubt had an incredibly difficult year, but still delivers the most passionate performance I have seen to date.

I’m now reminded of a moment in which John once asked me how his live shows compare to the many others I attend & my answer remains the same: they don’t.

R.I.P. Joe Maus 1988-2018.