Elvis Perkins graced the stage of Joe’s Pub on Thursday, March 1, to a sold out crowd full of suited men, dancing women, and what seemed to be lots of friends and family with their children and loved ones. Joe’s Pub in New York always offers an artist a sense of sophistication but Elvis’ songs stand on their own without the help of the venue’s great sound system and dapper look. His fantastic backing band only helped to augment his folk-pop songs. An upright bass (Brigham Brough), a guitarist that played harmonium (great idea, Whydham Boylan-Garnett), and a drummer (Nicholas Kinsey) that switched from his drum set to a marching band bass drum from time to time, were all behind Elvis throughout the show, never forgetting that it was their band leader whom they were playing for. It was Kinsey, not Perkins, that asked the audience to applaud in celebration of Perkins’ beautiful debut, Ash Wednesday, that came out on XL in late February of this year.
Perkins’ sound live is a mix of Astral Weeks, Tim Buckley, and even a little bit of Ray Lamontagne (sans the adult contemporary angle). It has an urban-back woods kind of feel to it that is perfectly exemplified by his video for “All The Night Without Love.” He played most of the songs of Ash Wednesday and his quick set was finished with an encore that featured some of Perkins’ road mates, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Perkins is going to be around for a while so you better get used to him and go check out his live act or his album, Ash Wednesday.
“All The Night Without Love” Video
Elvis Perkins
Photos By Daniel Arnold
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