By ANDREW FICKES
With all due respect to The Warm Hardies, Exohxo and the Horde and the Harem, these three seasoned acts were fighting a fight they couldn't win Friday night at the Conor Byrne in Ballard.
Conor Byrne has a notorius reputation for a sub-par sound system. Despite my best intentions to feel the contrary, I left the music club after it was all said done feeling slightly underwhelmed.
Before coming to what was The Warm Hardies' first of two scheduled CD release parties, I had the folk/pop duo's EP "Songs for Grownups" on heavy rotation.
On the EP, Tamara Power-Drutis and Matt Batey's harmonius vocals cut through the arrangements with a crispness and clarity. The individual instrument tracks of drum, guitar, bass and horns came together well-balanced.
Unfortunately, in The Warm Hardies' live performance Friday night some of that energy I experienced in listening to their EP fell a little flat. And I would have to credit that largely to the fact that the people in attendance in the cramped confines of the Irish pub were boisterous and, most of the night, not giving their undivided attention to the gorgeous music on stage.
Secondly, I would have to credit it all to the overall mix. The highs were too highs and there were no bottom. At times, Power-Drutis's vocals cut through but then were quickly squandered and covered by the crowd banter, and instrumentation like a wet blanket. Even Batey's vocals -- with it's indie rock sentimitality -- didn't always carry the same punch as was evident on the EP.
That said, I give the duo's props for their artful grasp of the Everly Brothers' tune "All I Want To Do is Dream," which they opened their 40-minute set with. They followed that with "I Don't Love You," the third and the last track on the EP, minus the French horn hook.
Other highlights included the alt-country number "Only Someday," "Fast and Heavy," and a stunning, flawless delivery of the Cheap Trick classic, "I Want You To Want Me."
What Batey and Power-Drutis have is magic in a bottle. It's rare to find these days a perfect female/duo group. These two could be the next Carpenters or James Taylor and Carly Simon. However, the duo's chemistry and charisma was not quite apparent Friday night, so it'll be exciting to see how these two grow together and connect with one another as songwriting collaborators.
The Warm Hardies' was followed by Exohxo, which proved to be the weakest link Friday night in the three-band set. I understand what this band is trying to deliver: intelligent, well-crafted chamber pop/art rock music (a.k.a. The Decemberists) but they need to learn really quickly that less is more. The stage was very small and this group attempted to answer the question: how many instruments can you throw on the stage before everything falls apart.
Saddled with the fact that the sound system was already in dire straights, Exohxo's wish to do much compromised their sound and their message got lost to audience, falling on deaf ears. It was just white noise to me. That, added to the fact that the two frontmen put on a real bad stand up comedy act. If that's what they call stage presence, then they're in trouble.
Finally, the evening closed out with headliner the Horde and the Harem.
Again, the sound system didn't do justice for this otherwise awesome art rock/Americana outfit. The quintet included their latest single, "Gold Rush," which the group recently produced a video for in Auburn at the Mary Olson Farm. The group closed with, which was my favorite song, "Cat Got Your Tongue." The closing guitar coda is reminiscent of Okkervil River's "Lost Coastlines."
Overall, not a flawless evening by any stretch of the imagination, but it carried enough promise that I would want to see The Warm Hardies and the Horde and Harem in action again.
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