By: Bob Longmore
Given that this was one of the last mild weather weekends of 2006, it’s time to warm ourselves in the bars late at night, with the sound of local music guiding the way. Three examples of the kind of music that I think can only be made by someone who has lived through the darkness of a Minnesota winter were on display at the Turf Club.
Once the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the World Series, and Duplomacy guitarist Adam Egerdahl figured out the blown fuse on his amp, the music began. Andy Flynn’s impossibly fragile voice floated above the intricate, heartfelt music. I think of their music as lo-fi bedroom music, but when I see them live, their sound is huge. They are more than the sum of parts.
The Winter Blanket started their moody set with the “Cold” from their new EP, Golden Sun. The song features Stephanie Davila’s breathy vocals and a bigger sound than usual, which seems to mark a departure for the previously hushed and minimal band. The dark and sullen moods remain, though. Davila coyly sings:
You lost your heart
Where did it go?
Those hazel eyes
just turn to stone
you must have been bit
or suffered a blow
because nobody’s born
with blood this cold
Doug Miller, singer and guitarist, took the lead vocals for the second song, “Four Tornados,” from their last full-length album, Prescription Perils. This song is another example of the band defying the Low comparisons that always accompany them. Whereas most of the songs are indeed paced and spare, this one is relatively frenetic and energized. It recalls a '70s rock vibe with a persistent down beat and chugging guitars.
“This is the official unveiling of the new lineup,” said Miller quietly. The band has a new rhythm section consisting of Dave Campbell on bass and keyboards and Todd Hansen playing drums. Campbell especially has a large role in the new incarnation of The Winter Blanket. With backup vocals, harmonica and an array of pedals to choose from, Campbell seemed to fill up the silent spaces that once defined the band's songs with noises and moans.
Pedal steel guitar player about town Brian O’Neill joined the band, adding a creaking foundation to underscore Davila’s haunting voice on the hushed honky-tonk of “Sink or Swim,” from the new album. The other members of the band left the stage, leaving Davila and O’Neill alone to fill the room with somber and delicate phrasings like, “I am just getting by/ if it was sink or swim/ you know I’d die.”
The band doesn’t dally around with their intense, moody and engaging music. There is no jumping off amps, or wild guitar solos, or monster riffs. They are sincere about what they do and that comes through; the band means it.
The last song of the set and the new EP is “Golden Sun,” which Campbell dedicated to recently deceased Turf Club bartender and doorman Stefan Olson. The song is almost seven-minutes long and winds from slow burning dirge in the beginning to a comparatively trashy bar-band noise fest. The disparity between the two parts of the song is even more defined live than on record. The first half is propelled with a snare beat that could be timed by a sundial; then just as it seems as if the song is fading out, it instead kicks up into another guitar heavy Neil Young-style '70s rocker.
Kid Dakota drummer Ian Prince seemed on the verge of pounding his kick drum through the stage of the Turf Club. There were veins popping out of the neck of guitarist-singer Darren Jackson as he screamed about “scraping bags” and “double boiling cottons.” I wondered how can two people create the depth of a full band? That has always been the appeal of Kid Dakota. They were on their game this night, the two members of the band seemed to improvise and adapt the songs on the fly. The band created an organic squall of stops and starts, highs and lows, swirls and hisses. A perfect soundtrack for the beginning of a long winter.
Picture: Stephanie Davila of the Winter Blanket, taken by David de Young.
Location Info:
The Turf Club
Artist Info: Duplomacy, Kid Dakota, The Winter Blanket
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