Moments before her set, Dawn Landes playfully adorned the stage with an armful of hay in Manhattan's cozy Mercury Lounge. The Kentucky-come-New York songstress and her heavily bearded band mates (The Hounds) then kicked into action with “Wandering Eye,” a plodding groove accented by harmonica thrashes and three-part vocal harmonies. It was ostensibly an album release party for Sweet Heart Rodeo, but the overarching sentiment in the room was understated sweetness. It may seem too subjective to highlight her cuteness as a factor, but her personality had a genuine way of permeating her performance, in equal parts lighthearted and kooky.
For all the precision of her vocal melodies and some calculated electronic drum loops, Landes never seemed to take things very seriously. Guests frequented the stage, adding ukulele, hula hoops, and harmonies to the rhythmic intensity of “I Don't Need No Man.” She forayed into French for a pretty rendition of “Tout les garçons et les filles.” There was also a cameo appearance for fellow musician and hubby Josh Ritter, who shared a mic and a tender moment on the oft-covered “Fox on the Run.”
“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” was a standout number, forging ahead with train-like spats of energy and abating intermittently for Landes' cotton candy vocal delivery. Her voice was most affecting at its delicate moments, flipping into an airy upper-register. Landes' voice sounds comfortable dancing lightly over guitar strums not because it blows your socks off, but because she sells it effortlessly.
Landes switched to her electric guitar for a number of tunes, including “Twilight” from 2008's Fireproof. It was a step toward the alt-country genre and an approach similar to Band of Horses; creating a simple, dense atmosphere with full measures of warm, lightly distorted guitar, complemented by the moans of Josh Kaufman's slide guitar. At the end of the show, Landes remarked, as if by obligation, that “there's some stuff you can buy, if you want to.” She left the stage with the same sensibility that she set with her bits of hay at the beginning. And I found myself wondering, with a smile on my face, if I've ever seen an artist communicate happiness so clearly.
