The evening at the Triple Door started off with a slight bit of identity confusion, as opener Gus Seyffert of Willoughby confessed he was neither named Willoughby nor did he have the band present (a sad result of rising costs, he later mentioned). I have to say first that I really enjoyed his vocals and songs, but he seemed too tentative alone onstage: overly stationary, hardly moving his lips and singing softly to an already silenced crowd. Perhaps it was the lack of band that brought out some nervousness, the quiet venue, or the "pushed to the front" persona that was forced on a man who may prefer to let others chatter and speak with his music (I'm purely guessing here, never having seen the full band). Whatever the reason, I feel it probably took away from what might have been a more dynamic performance.
Seyffert's music consisted of guitar, high vocals, and a percussion box of sorts which produced some slightly distant sounding stomping and clapping rhythms that he had to unceremoniously turn off each time he finished a song. I heard various influences, at times sounding a little psychedelic Beatles, and at others like a latin slow dance tune. One of my first thoughts was that Seyffert reminded me of Elliott Smith without the seeping depression. For me, the standout number was the western voyage sounding "Frankenstein," which Seyffert later explained was a love letter from monster to creator, a play on the literal and figurative "man with my heart." Seyffert spoke only briefly to humbly thank the venue for accommodating their tardy, border-delayed arrival (although he later joked with Ahn about their mini-van rental that turned out to be a "pimped out SUV—pretty funny for a few folk singers").
Fortunately, this wasn't the last of Seyffert, he came out to play and occasionally sing for most of Priscilla Ahn's set, fulfilling a mystery of the double neck guitar/ bass he toted (he played a lovely bass accompaniment to Ahn's guitar) and a chance to see him at least look more comfortable on stage.
After my brief internet research revealed Priscilla Ahn to be toted as a strong singer and up-and coming performer, I took in the concert with a question in mind: "Is she more than just a pretty face with a pretty voice?" I suppose the simple answer to this would be "yes, there's talent there," but I imagine that a bit more would do her some further justice. Ok, just to get it out of the way, Priscilla is strikingly beautiful. With dark eyes, dark hair, long, slight fingers, and a light complexion, this "half-minority" (her term) gal has an innocent and sweet look that is warmed by her frequent smile. Looking through the photos, I was struck by just how many she is smiling in!
As for the whole singing bit, Priscilla Ahn is listed in the folk/pop genre and I suppose her instrumentation (guitar, ukulele, harmonica, even (awesome?!) a kazoo), themes, and lyrics would align her with the tradition of folk singers. Her words are often sweet, sometimes simple ( "girl, you've been looking at him a little too long, for me to be your friend and boy, you've been looking at her a little too short, for me to be yours...but you better listen up, you better listen close, I don't think so...") sometimes humorous (the boob song drew many loud cheers), but her voice has nothing of a twang or such rough quality I often associate with others in the Ani Difranco or Willie Nelson set. Her voice is her strength—bright, clear, beautifully harmonized-really just short of overwhelming. At times using only simple "ooohhs" and "laas," she held my attention (and everyone else's, for that matter) every time she set her vocal loops, harmonizing two and sometimes three times over with herself or Gus. It didn't really matter what she was singing, it was the pure joy of her sound that left everyone drooling. I can confidently state that from the moment she briefly sound checked her loops with only a few jazzy notes the crowd was hooked on her voice. I should note that she is on the Bluenote label, and one of my working comparisons when I first heard her voice was Regina Spektor (or an early, early live Jewel) in the way that she slides into jazzy, bluesy notes when she dips into a bit of her lower range.
Overall the power of her voice carried most of the show, but her personality did provoke a bit of a crowd reaction. Ahn clearly is still under the joyous spell of this whole, "big new bright world" tour business and laughed she was impressed more than 30 people showed up. One of the sweetest moments of the night came when the Triple Door turned on the backscreen stars. The audience ooohhhed, Priscilla paused (still setting up her harmonica), then turned to see the lights and a huge smile spread across her face. "That's awesome!" she affirmed.
It was also a bit apparent to me that she is a bit new to the bigger (professional?) venues, with many a "um, yeah's and that's awesome" thrown into her stories. Ahn liked to explain a lot, at times lacking somewhat of a filter on what came out of her charming mouth. While nearly chatterless during his own set, Gus threw in a few occasional sly responses to Ahn's random comments that went something like, Ahn:" Um, there's something sticky on the bottom of my boot. It's distracting." Gus (quietly): "It was me." Ahn: "Huh?" Gus: "Yeah, I put it there. To distract you...." Her slightly wandering storytelling also lead to a few darker, awkward moments, paritcuarily where she noted that the song "Lullabye" was for her friend whose dog was shot by "Sheriff Hicks" six times, and also her mention that reading Capote's "In Cold Blood" inpsired the opening of "Leave the Light On." Fortunately, Ahn's sweetly applied voice provides something on a warm buffer to those scarier, unpleasant elements to life which seemed quite far away on tuesday night. Despite her occasional tangent, Ahn won over the crowd for the entire evening and is definately worth keeping an eye on in the future. I wonder if she will continue to tell her off-beat stories and let her inner monologue blurt out or if she'll refine her stage persona over time. I personally hope to see her mature as a song writer (I'm a bit of a sucker for more eloquent, multi-layered lyrical stories) because I have to note that my favorite songs she sang were a couple of covers, one by Willie Nelson (who she is exicted to open for on Sep 4 at Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA ) and the other penned by a muutal friend Benji Hughes:
"Your eyes are like billboards
that give you away
your mouth is a trumpet
somebody else plays
long after the notes come
the tone usually stays."
I loved the musical imagery of the tune, imagining and hearing Ahn's voice as its own instrument of note.
Setlist:
01 -- I Don't Think So
02 -- Wallflower Song
03 -- Dream
04 -- Astronaut
05 -- Master's in China
06 -- Livin' in a Tree
07 -- Lullabye
08 -- Boob Song
09 -- Leave the Light On
10 -- Find My Way Back Home
Encore:
11 -- Opportunity to Cry
One last quick bit about the setlist: I appreciated that she played several non-album songs. It's always nice to realize that going to a live show you have treated yourself not only to a breathing human being, but a few tunes you don't hear by just throwing on the old cd.
(see forthcoming 50-word review of Willoughby's album, or to find out more about that LA circle, rent "Walk Hard: the Dewy Cox story." Seriously, they had to get musicians for the movie from somewhere).
