The Ditty Bops, who are making their way across the Northwest on the current leg of their latest tour, made a welcome stop in Portland this July 28th to present a luminous batch of songs at the Aladdin Theater. Pairing tasteful guitar comping and pitch-perfect voices, the duo (Amanda Barret and Abby DeWald of Los Angeles) draws from a broad and original repertoire that tends to veer towards crafty, eco-friendly melodies and hot, club-style jazz. Their music definitely speaks most well for itself and, in accordance with the group's oft-stated philosophy, changes from performance to performance. The Portland audience then was no less treated to a rare and balmy array of barefooted Ditty Bop stylings. (An honorable mention also belongs to the air-conditioned stylings of the Aladdin Theater during a record 100+ degree NW heat wave).
Opening with "Heaven" (a song from their latest EP, Songs for Steve) the Bops set the tone for the personal, strong character which was to follow through the rest of their performance. Highlights then were to include: the lulling "Dancing in the Moon," the sassy, catchy hit "Summer Rains," the diaphanous "Falling Awake," the blistering up-tempo swing of "Skinny Bones," and the three chord punch of "Trouble Maker." The rest of the aspects of the performance were handled with skill by this very capable duo. The singing seems to be divvied up about equally between the two girls, with Amanda singing more of an alto to Abby's golden soprano. Abby's spider-like, consistent guitar abilities are then augmented by Amanda's upper register use of ukuleles, mandolins, banjos and an interesting alto guitar. Alternate guitar tunings were bandied about throughout the night also, during which 3 original pieces of artwork (consisting of reinvented hairdos superimposed upon the unsuspecting subjects of a discarded 2001 feminist calendar) were auctioned. The Dittys are also accomplished visual artists in their own right, having documented their last tour's 4000+ mile bicycle adventure in comic-book style in "Rumble Strips," and also cataloguing the exercise habits of Abby's dog in the aptly titled illustrated story "Ruffy Loves to Exercise." Added to this were songs whose subjects varied from certain colors to ringing telephones to the environment to sugar to spice to anthropomorphic sharks.
So, the concert was a success. These bright dames put on a show which evokes afresh our halcyon days, clandestine moonlit soirees, and even the dawning era of talking pictures for a 2009 tour.
Opening for the Ditty-Bops this night was Firs of Prey, a local Portland group that also happens to make primary use of vocal harmonies supported with acoustic guitar accompaniment. The group's primary performer, Andrew Miller, warmed up the crowd alone with a sparing, pastoral, a capella song entitled "The Dawn Paints Me Grey" on which he employed real-time vocal loops over a drum machine to gain harmonies and lyrics with each repeating verse. Miller then played four or five more songs accompanying himself on an Ovation guitar before bringing out Lance Barrington and Ryan Peterson James. The boys added more vocals, melodica, and one (audience appreciated) triple kazoo interlude into the mix. For their last song, the Firs of Prey encouraged audience-wide participation in singing the chorus, "We are all lost." It was to the audience's credit that voices stood out sounding as professional and interesting as those on stage (Miller said the audience should be hired, to which an voice from the crowd replied, shouting "We are all unemployed!"). In all, there's plenty of competent singing and songwriting here, delivered with a kind of Appalachian or Mount Hood lilt, though still more layers of arranging and instrumentation could likely benefit these young fellows.
