Jeremy Messersmith CD Release Party w/ The Owls and Rachel Ries at The Varsity Theater on 9/25/08
By: David de Young
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| Jeremy Messersmith at the Varsity - Photo by Jenn Barnett |
I arrived early enough to see Chicago-based singer/songwriter Rachel Ries, my first time seeing the Ani Difranco labelmate. I was thoroughly impressed, and at the time of writing I’ve been hunkering down on a cool Sunday night listening to her entire discography.
Rachel Ries is as down to earth as the girl you sat next to in math class, but her songwriting and performance ability are unmistakably ethereal. Totally at ease in front of the Varsity audience, it was also obvious she herself had a large number of fans in attendance.
Ries’s songs are folky and full of personality, and she sings with an unpretentious and pretty vibrato that reminded me a bit of Loretta Lynn at times. She opened with "Learning Too Slow,” the opening track from her 2007 album Without a Bird, from which several songs in tonight’s set would come. After her second song she joked to the audience, “We are all delighted we are not at Sigur Ros,” a reference to another big show of the evening which Messersmith himself would also mention later. (This was one of those nights where I have a sneaky suspicion that many of the musicians on this evening’s bill might have been at Sigur Ros themselves if they had not been scheduled to play their own shows this night.)
Ries divided her time between electric guitar and the out of tune (though full of personality) upright piano at the side of the Varsity stage. Whatever instrument she played, there was something comfortable and comforting about her songs. They have a quality about them that makes Ries the kind of musician who you’d love to have entertain you in your own living room. Her set included her songs “3 a.m.,” “Chicago,” “Fine, I’m Fine” and the very well-received “Kitchen Light Song.” (Listen to her yourself on her MySpace at http://myspace.com/rachelries.)
Rachel Ries - Photo by Alexa Jones
Minneapolis’s own The Owls filled the middle slot – Messersmith himself hand-selected each of the two openers on tonight’s bill - and it was at this point that the audience edged forward up towards the stage. The Owls are a four-piece super group of sorts whom HWTS has written about several times in the past. Although they are some of the best crafters of light pop in the Twin Cities, tonight I was thrown off a bit by their switching off of instruments as each member of the band took their turn at bass, guitar, piano and lead vocals. It was a set that showcased great songs, but it never took off for me, even on songs like “Do Ya?” or “Luck” from my favorite release of theirs, 2003’s Our Hopes and Dreams. There was a moment mid-set when Brian Tighe took to vocals on “Channel” from last year’s Daughters and Suns that raised the energy a bit for me and even evoked a few shimmery memories of live The Hangups shows from years past. Otherwise, the Owls were more miss than hit for me tonight.
At about 10:45, Jeremy Messersmith took the stage with another reference to the big show going on across town. “Hi friends,” he said. “Shouldn’t you all be at Sigur Ros right now?” He opened his set with the melancholy light pop song "Welcome To Suburbia,” which leads off his new album.
Messersmith was dressed to the nines in a new pair of shoes and what might have been a vintage suit if it didn’t also appear to be fresh off the loom. Though about as unassuming a person as they come, Messersmith crafts near perfect pop that could easily have national appeal if given the proper exposure. (I am excited to hear he will be embarking on a major tour later this fall to support this album.) In my mind, Messersmith occupies some of the same space on the Twin Cities musical landscape as does Chris Koza, though Messersmith has not toured as relentlessly as Koza has these past several years.
Jeremy Messersmith and Rachel Ries - Photo by Jenn Barnett
For his second song, Messersmith jumped back to his 2006 album The Alcatraz Kid and pulled the mellow “7:02” out of his hat. Bass duties on this song were by Dan Lavonn, who played the bass lines on cello. Lavonn also figures heavily on the album.
“The Commuter” is another song from the new album that revolves around a theme of transportation, but as with many of these songs, you get the feeling that this transport is as much of the mind as it is across town. Like “Welcome to Suburbia” it’s again chocked full of tragic melancholy. Take the lyric “And when I drive this car to work, I feel like I’m going places” as just one example.
Messersmith introduced the rest of his live band, which tonight just consisted of the aforementioned Dan Lavonn on cello and Andy Thompson on keyboards and xylophone. On the album Thompson also plays drums, guitars and more.
Other songs in his set included, “Dead End Job.” You could have heard a pin drop during this one, and it was a bit ironic to see couples holding hands as the song ultimately turns out to be about adultery. Live, Messersmith’s cover of the Replacements “Skyway” (which also appears on the new disc) was amazing. With Lavonn’s cello it almost makes me wish for strings in the Replacements’ original. Messersmith paused a moment to ask if the Twins had won (cell-phone connected fans were happy to report that they had) before inviting Rachel Ries to the stage for “Breakdown” from the new disc. Ries also contributes vocals to that track on the album, and the harmonies are gorgeous.
Next up was a song from Messersmith’s forthcoming album, which I hope will not be his last after hearing him say during Thursday’s 89.3 The Current interview that he’s got at least one more album in him before he retires. Towards the end of his set he also got to “Franklin Avenue,” another song about transportation, and surely the song on the album most likely to get him compared to Elliot Smith, one of many songwriters Messersmith admits to admire.
The band left the stage but quickly returned for an encore of “Novocain,” Messersmith’s biggest “hit” (27 thousand plus plays on his MySpace page surely amounts to that, if nothing else) from the first album, and “Light Rail” which closes out the new disc.
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Location Info:
The Varsity Theater
Artist Info: Jeremy Messersmith, Rachel Ries, The Owls
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