Mercury Lounge

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Please note: All events are 21+ unless otherwise noted.

Death Vessel 8:30

Micah Blue Smaldone 7:30
The Big Huge 6:30

Fri 9/19

Tickets

$12

Death Vessel

http://searchservice.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sitesearch.results&type=Music&qry=death%20vessel
http://www.deathvessel.com/
Death Vessel is Joel Thibodeau's work as both a solo artist and band leader. His music, captured on the resplendent record "Stay Close", is an eloquent distillation of a life's tales. Born in Berlin, Germany before The Wall fell... raised in Kennebunkport, Maine before the senior Bush's presidency... this musician lived a childhood where the ghosts of Cold War casualties and seaport tragedies haunted the alleyways and beaches. Leaving Maine as a teenager, Thibodeau moved to Boston, Providence and New York. In Providence he was a founding member, songwriter and performer of the group String Builder. Now as then, Thibodeau captures the surreal and the sublime in wondrous song.

Thibodeau's vocal delivery is astonishing. Perhaps his singing is best-described as descendent from "the high lonesome sound" - unleashed upon the world by Roscoe Holcomb in the early 1960's. With this voice, Death Vessel delivers stunning lyrical poetry that transcends the "whisky 'n' haystack" imagery of its neo-folk contemporaries. Thibodeau brings this same unusual experimentation to the acoustic guitar (his primary instrument). The daringly melodic plucking of strings and the odd tempo changes provide expertly unexpected accompaniment.

To watch Death Vessel perform live is to watch an audience under a spell. This applies whether it's just Thibodeau alone with an acoustic guitar or with an expanded lineup that often includes regular contributors to Death Vessel Pete Donnelly (The Figgs) and Erik Carlson (Area C).

-atpfestival.com

Micah Blue Smaldone

The Big Huge

www.myspace.com/thebighuge
http://thebighuge.org
The low-key duo that makes up the Big Huge -- its name a reference to obvious partial forebears the Incredible String Band -- lets the music speak for itself on A Woven Page of Silver Light, and does so with gentle panache. Recorded by kindred soul Micah Blue Smaldone, vocalist/guitarist Drew Nelson and Michael Lambright (nearly everything else, including glockenspiel) aim for a feeling of reflective rural calm, helped by such song titles as "Weep Not Wandering Willow" and "A Crickets Call Come One and All." (The best title, though, would have to be "A Subtle Tune," which definitely has the quietest performance, right down to a midsong pause.) Right from the ambling start of "Will I Follow You to the Sea," played on dulcimer by Nelson, the feeling is of where it was literally recorded at -- a house, with Nelson's voice caught in that specific ambience so perfectly it's like he wasn't so much in a speaker system as standing next to it, something maintained throughout the disc. Lambright's various contributions are often perfect small touches to the overall performances, filling out the arrangements with a touch of depth rather than swamping anything (his accordion performances are especially delightful, and on "The Ballad of North Haywood" they add a feeling at once celebratory and sad). Some songs are at almost Wire-length, barely a minute and a half long, but instead of feeling fragmentary they seem to be exactly right: quick, delicate performances that suit the often lovely titles (consider the guitar/ukulele/vocal combination of "Wrapped in the Cloths of Heaven" as one example). Short at just under 20 minutes, A Woven Page of Silver Light is a striking miniature that deserves wider attention. ~Ned Raggett, All Music Guide