Hammydown pic by Tim Lewis
I had a great time seeing music last Saturday at The Monkey House. Christopher Larrow came over from New York and we drove to Winooski and met up with Mary Wolcott. We chatted for a bit then it was time for the first band.
Clever Girls opened a little on the quiet side but their songs have a tendency to build into a rock and roll maelstrom and Catch And Release certainly did that. They stayed at full pace for a rocking Loose Tooth then played a new song. It missed the title but it might have been Doomed. They went back to their EP for 45 and We Tried and continued the trend of wrapping gentle music with rock. They closed the night with three songs that are not yet recorded. I recognized Hannah from the last time I saw them and everyone seemed to love the closing song, which might have been Heavy. It was a brilliant show and they are on my list of bands to never miss if I can help it.
Clever Girls pic by Tim Lewis
Looms pic by Tim Lewis
Up next was a band from New York City called Looms. They began playing some nice breezy pop that moved through unexpected chord progressions which made it a fun challenge to follow along with. The first part of the set was filled with jazzy pop but a few songs in signaled a change. The singer switched from guitar to keys and the sound had a bit of a prog rock feel with the jazzy changes. Towards the end of the 13 song set the guitar came back in force and the last few songs rocked hard and were so much fun. I really enjoyed them and am so glad I got to hear them play.
Looms pic by Tim Lewis
I had seen Abbie Gail (Abbie Morin) before but had not caught up with her new band. Hammydown were a trio with her on guitar and vocals with a bassist and drummer. The songs were hard and fast indie rock. They opened a little slow with Pizzaface but were at full speed by the end. That is the title of the EP they released that night and they played most, if not all of it. I did not recognize most of the songs but loved every moment of all of them Migraine was great and Automatic Sweetheart was lots of fun. They played a song about what you do when waiting for your dreams to come true called Wayside. They ended the set with a song about walking away but a heavy encore demand from the mostly full room kept them on the stage. They closed with a revved up You’re Still the One and that was that. I went in not realizing the set was going to rock that hard and was blissfully happy for every moment.
Chris had left earlier and Mary headed home and I took the happy and exhausted walk home.
Hammydown pic by Tim Lewis
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