On the evening of January 30th, 2010, Eugene’s historic WOW Hall, a venue known for offering a wide swatch of upcoming musical acts, once again rang with the sound of handclap and pedal steel guitar, its folksy twang echoing some of the city’s most infamous years.
The first act might not have been on the bill, but Jared Mees and the Grown Children brought their best, surprising the crowd with a set bursting with energy and a fun, full sound, adding percussion, keyboard, trumpet, and violin to the traditional rock mix with trusting abandon.
Although Mees, the founder of the group, seemed soft-spoken in introducing the band, he came to life in song, joined with perfect aplomb by charismatic keyboardist and co-singer Megan Spear. Playing songs primarily from Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money and from an as-yet-unnamed upcoming album, the songs got the crowd moving the way an opening act should – “Tallest Building in Hell” and the sing-along “Shake” stand out as favorites.
The second act was on the bill, and although it didn’t quite mesh with the folk rock theme of the night, Tu Fawning enchanted the crowd in its own way. Folding harmonizing vocal tones into synthesized keyboard hums, the high-concept Portland band led by Corinna Repp and Joe Haege mixes the organic with the mechanical, creating the kind of experimental indie pop the Northwest is increasingly known for.
With tambourines in hand and guitar feedback at the ready, Tu Fawning put on a performance notably louder and more raw than their studio recording, pairing heartbeat-like rhythms with Repp’s haunting vocals to create something all at once charming and tense and trancelike.
The night’s main act was folk rock outfit The Fruit Bats, a group of tweed-clad Chicago imports now making their home in Portland. The Fruit Bats are out promoting their fourth album, The Ruminant Band, generally regarded as their strongest entry into the indie pop category.
What the Fruit Bats do, they do well: folksy jams with a touch of rockabilly and a surprising dash of electric guitar carry the show, with many of the songs punctuated by lead singer and guitarist Eric Johnson’s heartfelt wailing lyrics (a sound quickly becoming a uniting factor in today’s indie scene). It’s the moments when guitarist Sam Wagster jumps onto pedal steel guitar (as in “Primitive Man”) that you can best hear the album’s roots in 60’s folk rock – most notably, Dylan collaborators The Band – but there are clear dashes of influence from contemporaries like Wilco and The Shins (whom Johnson tours with) as well, mellowing the music from protest rock to late summer soundtrack.
The set transitioned well, segueing from a foot-stomping rendition of “When U Love Somebody” (from 2003’s Mouthfuls) to the melancholy “Singing Joy to the World” with relative ease. (Kudos go out to the band for continuing to tolerate the tremendously rude crowd, who, in between shouting out requests, continued an incessant chatter through even this quiet acoustic piece.)
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