Although Bear in Heaven (who I saw at Pitchfork) were the headliner for the show I was very excited to see, I didn’t even end up staying to catch their set. I was much more excited for the opening set from two really great groups, Twin Sister and Mountain Man, who gave me more than enough with their greats sets Tuesday night at the Turf Club.
First up was the Vermont based girl group Mountain Man. The trio performs mostly a cappela folk songs that focus on their amazing vocal harmonies. Their songs are stunning when put to tape, but live it really brings forth front and center just how complex and beautiful their creation of songs really is. They performed songs off their recently released debut record Made The Harbor and threw in a few covers and new tracks. Highlights included “Animal Tracks,” which featured a sparse acoustic guitar backdrop and the breathtakingly stunning “Dog Song,” which quieted even the chatty people in the back of the Turf. The fact that their music seems to scream in the face of any current musical trend only serves to make this unique and supremely talented band one of the entertaining and origional I have seen in a while.
Following the mellow joy of Mountain Man was the more sexed up space pop/funk of Twin Sister. While their music, which employs slinky bass, funky guitars, stabbing keys and sexy vocals, is usually enough, the group stepped it up in the looks department for the last stop of the tour with all three bands. The guitar player, who already looked a little like Freddie Mercury, was wearing a one piece unitard that left very little to the imagination. While they clearly were dressed goofy for the night, their music was anything but. In addition to playing some solid new tracks, the group focused on their latest release, the excellent Color Your Life. They also threw in one of my favorite tracks of the year in “I Want a House,” which was greatly appreciated and really showed their sexy, funked up electro pop. While I seemed to daydream a little during the slower, more spaced out jams, when they laid out the funk they really seemed to entrance the slowly building crowd. It was pretty cool to see two bands with pretty opposite sounds grabbing the exact same crowd with equal precision. Like Mountain Man, I suspect we will be seeing more of this group and it will be at a bigger venue in front of a lot more people next time.
Check out Jon’s full photo set HERE (including, yes, Bear in Heaven. I know, I know…he is a better music fan/person than me for staying)
