Last night I went to a house show over on Troy Hill in Pittsburgh. The event was mostly organized by Chowes, so naturally the concert featured a group from the north eastern part of the states where she was groomed.
The group featured was an indie / folk foursome called The Low Anthem. The first thing that struck me was the musical creativeness and wide array of instruments for four people! There was a trumpet playing clarinetist named Jocie Adams who also boogied on the electric guitar, pump organ, bass and microphone. There is also the banjo trumpeter and E flat horn master, Ben Miller, who also sung vocals and played on the pump organ, drums and an array of guitars. Still going there is a fantastic bass player Jeffrey Prystowsky who also can rock out on the mic, acoustic guitar, drums and pump organ. Finally, the newest member of the group is Cyrus Scofield who is a drumming trumpeter and pump organ player.
As you can tell it’s not your average foursome. So by now you are probably thinking the sound must be “out there” with all the instruments I just listed, but it’s really not! There were some great tunes for rocking out and dancing, but also some that were more mellow and good for relaxing. All the songs though featured a compilation of the instruments in a way that each worked well with one another.
One of the most impressive songs of the evening was called the Cell Phone Song, which featured cell phones as an instrument! (At first I thought Ben was checking his text messages in the middle of a song and I was like WTF! When really he was just calling another cell phone.) The musical talent in the group is fantastic, so I’m sure if there is an instrument that fits a sound their going for, you’ll see them with it.
If you ever catch them coming to your local area, definitely check this group out! I picked up their latest cd, called, “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin” with the press number 454 out of 2000.
Here is the short bio from the bands website:
“The Low Anthem formed as a professional band in 2006 in Providence, RI. The founding members were Miller and Prystowsky. Their mutual interests in Americana, baseball, and morally agnostic narrative necessitated the formation of The Low Anthem. They began a collaboration with classical composer Jocie Adams in November 2007.
The Low Anthem have recorded three full-length records, toured exstensively with 100 shows in 2007, won Best Album of 2008 from the Providence Phoenix, recieved national radio play, and are building a legitimate fanbase across the Northeast.”
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