The Low Anthem -- 3.03.07 -- Postcrypt Coffeehouse, NYC
Posted by Jes Tones on 03.09.2007
This Providence, Rhode Island-based folk(ish) trio is stomping up quite a storm on the East coast - such a storm, in fact, that I braved the weather and took my chances at getting struck by lightning for setting foot inside a chapel to see these kids play the coffeehouse below. Thank God I did.
Only this girl would inadvertently ask for directions to a venue from a blind couple - and actually receive them. Not only did I get the directions - I convinced them to check out the show we were headed to see (no pun intended!). The Low Anthem. I'd seen them once - briefly and somewhat unintentionally during a night of shamelessly drunken downtown debauchery a little over a month ago. But even in my stupor that night I realized this particular threesome was probably worth staying lucid for - and so this Saturday evening, I did.
Playing this time in a coffin-sized coffeehouse in the crypt of a Columbia University chapel - that does, in fact, serve alcohol (thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning, folks) - every shuffle and stomp packed a punch and each moment of silence in this room was deafeningly awkward. Our instructors were Jeff Prystowsky on the standup bass, and Ben Miller and Dan Lefkowitz alternating duties on lead and backup vocals, guitar, drums, banjo and a pint-sized organ. There was even a little coronet thrown in for good measure, compliments of a newly self-taught Lefkowitz. Our attendance list consisted of guys and gals, young and old, blind and, um, not blind, some invited and some casual observers - but all seemingly enchanted with the evening's performance, with focused and silent attention as though there might be a quiz.
At first I was amazed at how packed this admittedly tiny venue was, but as the edification advanced and the Anthem began a requested second set after the evening's scheduled final performer proved to be a truant, all I could wonder was, where in the world was everyone else? These kids stomp onstage better than many bands I've seen play lately…what a shame to not be a part of this.
Although the threesome cites their influences as Pierre Bensusan, Ray Brown and Woody Guthrie, they have also garnered comparisons of late to the likes of Wilco, Ryan Adams, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake and even Bob Dylan - not a bad class to be thrown into, although personally I find their self-cited influences to be a bit more accurate in describing most of what I heard that night. But swift comparisons to me seem a lot like calculus - easy to blow off and ultimately not that useful. We may have been in a church with cocktails, but it was the dichotomy of Lefkowitz's Tom Waits-esque folk growl and Miller's smooth tenor, layered effortlessly on top of this stomping, plucking, strumming and humming that I found truly intoxicating.
I immediately acquired their self-titled album released last year after I saw them the first time, but honestly find most of the newer songs on their myspace page and the more recent Canada EP more intriguing than most of the full length content. A sign of good things to come for another full length promised later this year… The suspense is killing me.
The 411: The Low Anthem just stomped their way up one notch higher on my radar - and you should start picking up their signal too. Whether you fancy the likes of Woodie Guthrie or Ryan Adams, or perhaps a little of the two mixed together like rum and coke, this is a band to watch.
