I always seem to pick shows at the Middle East that go on during bad weather, making the trip there and back as interesting as the show itself. Last night that was certainly the case as I trekked across a deserted, wind-blown, snow-drifted Central Square to see Keren Ann. A line had formed by the time I got there, 20 minutes after the first act was supposed to have gone on. Apparently she didn’t have her guitar plugged in during soundcheck, which added to the lateness. The evening provided some amazing people-watching opportunities: a gaggle of French twenty-somethings, a lot of older Iron Horse-type folks, one guy sitting on the floor, one woman asleep, and two guys with lazy eyes (one each). After Rachel Cantu opened and A Girl Called Eddy followed (a surprising, enjoyable combination of Bacharach, Leonard Cohen, and Marianne Faithfull), Keren Ann finally came on at 11:30. Never mind that 11:30 was the time her set was scheduled to finish, as printed on the schedule on the wall – we were happy to see her start.



Half of her band was late in arriving – apparently stuck in Rhode Island on Amtrak – and we were told they were “in Boston, and just need to get over here and plug in.” A French horn player and a violinist showed up a few minutes later – no plugging in necessary – and the set began. As the horn player sat down, I thought to myself, “Hey, he kind of looks like another horn player I know, only he’s in the Polyphonic Spree, and his hair is short. I should know because I saw a ‘MusicChoice’ show on the Spree on cable a few nights ago.” At the moment this thought was occurring, Keren Ann introduced her band members, and called the horn player “Louis,” which I thought was another weird coincidence, as the guy I know is also named Louis. Then I put it all together, and there you have it: Josh’s old roommate is now playing with Keren Ann (and the Spree as well, though they’re not touring or recording right now).

After all of the wait, the set was way too short, of course. She played until 12:30, but I felt like we only really heard ten or eleven songs. Four were in French, including the single encore, and all of them were hushed and intricate. She reminded me a good deal of Sondre Lerche – not as poppy, but the same quality of lyrics and a similar brass/strings/keys/guitar combination. I look forward to the arrival of her album, and hope to see her in town again, maybe at the Paradise (thought the late Kendall Caf? would have been a perfect venue for her). I got to chat a little with Louis afterwards, and we talked about how long he’d been with the group (third show) and where they were off to next (SxSW).



Note: All of my photos were really red and really dark, so I desaturated and brightened them up. They weren’t meant to be black and white, but at least now you can see a little of what’s going on.