Thursday, April 5, 2012

Finding My(self and my instrument)

{Can you find me in the crowd?? I'm the one in blue and yellow via beportland}

Last night I saw Bowerbirds at the Doug Fir here in Portland, and they were amazing. If you haven't heard of them you should. I remember when one of my dear friends introduced me to them in college and then told me they were coming to Portland and that I should go, but I didn't have anyone to go with and immediately regretted missing it.

I love that they played a good mix of their older songs (and that I can tell you exactly what they played since I snagged one of their handwritten set lists!) and their new songs sounded even better live.

I also enjoyed how multi-instrumental the whole band is, although their musical talent has thrown me into a bit of a crisis. It started during "Walk the Furrows" when the drummer started playing the castanets and I couldn't stop thinking "Why don't I play the castanets?" then they whipped out a melodica and I felt an urge to play the melodica too. I also keep thinking about the Sharon Van Etten concert I went to a couple weeks ago where Sharon played an autoharp, the autoharp is so cool, PJ Harvey plays an autoharp too. And what about the accordion?

So now I am dreaming of a new instrument to call my own, any suggestions? My dad says he can hear the oboe calling to me, maybe I will start out small with those castanets.

I will leave you with a song from the new Bowerbirds album, The Clearing.