Starlight, the Sea and Laura Veirs
Having never been to the Triple Door, we did a 'lil looky-loo on the series of tubes that is the internets. The place seemed a little more hoity-toity than we were used to, with its plush half-moon booths and candle-lit tables. Reluctantly, we ditched the jeans we'd worn for three days and dappered up a bit. Upon arrival at the Triple Door, we're greeted by a lovely hostess who shows us to our table, tells us a little about the place. Our waitress shows up a moment later, takes our drink order, tells us the dinner and app specials. It's a different universe than we're used to when it comes to seeing a show. We feel a little lost, but when the music starts, it feels right. Laura Veirs and openers Lake are, after all, pretty mellow music-wise. Seeing them in this kind of setting, on a Friday night, after an exhausting work-week, well, it's just... nice. Yeah, nice.
Lake are a four-piece from Olympia -- two cute girls and two fuzzy boys really. We struggle a little with describing them, but their MySpace says "A'cappella / Bossa Nova / Nu-Jazz". Not sure about the A'cappella part, but the other stuff -- yeah sure, why not. Our Pad Thai and prawns mixed quite well with Lake's playful harmonies and we enjoyed each with equal measure.
Portland girl Laura Veirs and her band "The Saltbreakers" (named after Veirs' new album) opened the set with "Pink Light" -- a drifting, affecting song full of poetic images of night-time and the sea. The song also serves as an appropriate introduction to Saltbreakers, as star and sea make for loving bedfellows throughout the album.
Veirs shared our fish out of water notion of the place, commenting that it was the "fanciest place" they'd played during the whole tour. "How's your coffee? How's your tea?" she joked. "You can dance on the tables, if you want."
Most of the set stuck to new songs from Saltbreakers, but one song, an older one, the name of which we've forgotten, we found particularly intriguing. It was a duet between her and guitarist Karl Blau, in which Karl sings back-up in a deep deep voice like what we imagine it might sound like if shadows could sing. It was slow and moody and felt like being on a narrow highway at night with no moonlight and you can't see a thing to either side of you.
The highlight of the show may have been the beautiful performance of "To The Country", a sleepy and hypnotic number in which Veirs invited the members of Lake to the stage to sing with her and invited the audience, in our cozy seats, to clap with her.
More pics and a bit about Das Vibenbass after the jump...
Leaving the Triple Door, we walked up the steps, past the hostesses and a giant fish tank and almost out the door before -- wait, what is that? To our left, in the bar was an intriguing sound that made us stop and listen. There was a little curtain through which we could see a band of some kind. We decided to check them out and went back into the bar, sat down.
They are Das Vibenbass -- a jazz quartet with a tendency toward a kind of unfamiliar, non-traditional jazz . They were amazing. We stayed in the bar, listened to a lot of their set and bought a CD. We're not usually big on jazz music, but these guys are something else.
