Magnolia Electric Co. + The Watson Twins + An Evening With...

Music seen at Space Gallery, September 30, 2007
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY  |  October 3, 2007

There was sort of a collective groan when the clueless among us (I plead vacation) found out that a third band would be playing at SPACE, given that the moderately sleepy concert wasn't even going to start until 10 pm on a Sunday night. Luckily, that groan turned into a “whoa, Bruce Springsteen” when An Evening With... started their set. The four-piece, who rarely play out and will hopefully be releasing an album someday soon, is fronted by Jeremy Alexander and also features Cult Maze’s Peet Chamberlain, Seekonk percussionist Jason Ingalls, and Satellite Lot's Aaron Hautala. Alexander has an emotive, quintessentially gravelly Americana voice, and his band’s subtle, full-bodied sound matches him wonderfully. More, please.

The Watson Twins, best known as the backing band of the much loved and hated (that’d be me) indie siren Jenny Lewis, offered a dreamy set of alt-country tunes that in some instances — particularly a cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” — took on some shoegaze overtones. Or maybe that was just the haze everyone was in watching two really cute, really tall girls sing with really pretty voices.

The half-set of Magnolia Electric Co. I made it through was rock solid. Diminutive frontman Jason Molina’s lonely-dog wail was complimented by energetic (and jocular) backup, with Molina playing tons of unfamiliar songs because he’s written far too many for anyone to keep up with. And unlike that other prolific Americana hero we had in town a few weeks ago, this dude seems to have fun with it.

Related: Work ethics, Magnolia Electric Co. | Josephine, Repackaged treasures, More more >
  Topics: New England Music News , Jenny Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Gray,  More more >
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