Last Night: New Folk Rock Supergroup The Emerald Triangle
The Emerald Triangle
Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
The Independent
Better than: Watching Vetiver open for Chris Robinson's Wooden Family open for Jonathan Rice open for Ryan Adams open for Interpol.
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| Paul Scott |
"We're aware that this is a very strange thing," Vetiver front man Andy Cabic announced from the stage last night, his eyes tucked under a floppy brown hat. "It's a thing that doesn't really exist outside of here."
It was the San Francisco songwriter's way of explaining that the band he was performing with, the mostly Southern California-based Emerald Triangle, is non-traditional in every sense of the word. The group's MySpace page doesn't have songs, only a cryptic greeting promising that the Emerald Triangle tour "will melt your face off." The "new musical expedition" offers a set list of material that the five players wrote completely separately from one another. And the Independent show was only the second time these musicians had performed together before an audience. It was a special situation, one that could really go either way. Instead of falling apart, though, The Emerald Triangle was the polished '70s-leaning folk/rock supergroup that, as one observer near me put it, came off even better than the sum of its parts.
For the next 90 minutes after Cabic's introduction, the five woodsy-by-way-of-Laurel Canyon looking musicians showed fans the myriad strengths between them. Along with Cabic on guitar, the group comprised guitarist Jonathan Wilson, a songwriter who plays with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes (the drummer, who wasn't introduced, also plays with Robinson); guitarist Jonathan Rice, whose solo work put him on the map with the folk- and indie-pop set; solo artist and bassist Neal Casal, who plays with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals; and the dude who pulled the whole concept together, pedal steel and keyboard player Farmer Dave Scher, who has joined the ranks of Beachwood Sparks, Interpol, and Elvis Costello's band over the years.
The night moved between the Emerald's members' originals and one cover (a fitting tune for a double-Jonathan lineup, "The Trials of Jonathan" by Happy & Artie), each player taking a turn on vocals and each song giving the evening a fresh new dynamic.






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