October 14th, 2009
Seattle, WA
In the midst of all the clatter and shrills (or are they shills?), Scott Kannberg's first album under his Pavement moniker Spiral Stairs, titled The Real Feel, is being slightly ignored. As it stands, the album stands as a footnote in what is to be a year or so of Pavement nostalgia washing away memories of The Jicks, Preston School of Industry, and Ibold's recent stint as bassist for Sonic Youth.
The crowd was surprisingly sparse--perhaps many were awaiting the next evening's festivities when Kannberg was set to open up for Bob Mould--and the set matched the patchy emptiness. Joined by the video director for "Stolen Pills", Kannberg and his cohort slowly strummed and slid through tracks from The Real Feel, not to mention an old Preston School of Industry chestnut and a track from that much more important band that happens to be reuniting in 2010 for a year of cashing in...er, touring.
But this night belonged to Kannberg's Spiral Stairs persona and while the free show was what you'd expect a free show to be, it was a bouncy fun time that kept the crowd happy and lent Kannberg a bit of practice before he began playing in front of Bob Mould fans who would care if he fucked up. Many of the new songs took on a cool country persona thanks to Kannberg's pedestrian pace but no one was in a hurry to see the show end, although Kannberg did inform us he was headed to Jon Auer's 40th Birthday but clearly he was in no rush to be a timely guest.
Kannberg didn't sell The Real Feel as hard as one would imagine and the performance did the material little favors considering how poppy the new tracks are in recorded form but it's rare to get up close and almost personal with any musician and these are the moments when a musician becomes a person, so the pretense of a set are removed and a campfire mentality ensues. Kumbaya!
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