In a society where everything has been digitized, quantified and algorithmically analyzed, there’s something special about the feeling of music, art or literature that exists outside those systems.
The aptly-named band known as The Librarians make a special blend of music that exists outside of genre and can only be experienced in person. Coming across their music for the first time is not unlike discovering your new favorite book somewhere in the back stacks of a library. They’ve got a show coming up on Friday, April 4 at The Admiralty Lounge if you want to see it for yourself.
First, we need to talk about their style. Elements of folk and rock are certainly at the forefront, but they also manage to dip their toes into a range of genres from jazz to bluegrass to country without ever falling too deep into any one style in particular. There’s a ton of melody, both vocal and instrumental, and some cool improvisation without ever sliding into jam-band territory.
This stylistic diversity is partly a function of their genuinely unique lineup. Carly James is the lead singer and plays electric guitar. Kevin Nelson holds everything together on bass. Joel Ricci plays a pocket trumpet and is also the songwriter of the group. (Another distinctive feature of the group, since it’s so rare for the lead singer and the primary songwriter to be different people.) Local music fans might know Ricci from groups like Funkways and La Push or under his alias Lucky Brown, but this group is a far cry from the extended funk jams for which those projects are known.
The fourth and newest member, slide guitar whiz Nakos Marker, plays a custom-built instrument, essentially an electrified dobro. He’s a veteran of the local bluegrass scene and certainly capable of high-speed licks when it’s called for, but in the group he mostly stays restrained, adding melody and texture and only cutting loose with the bluegrass style shredding.
The band also has an unusual history, having been together in some form or another for over 20 years without ever releasing an album or expanding their digital footprint past a basic Instagram account. If you really search online, you can find some old videos, but nothing that represents what they sound like now.
The Librarians had been in a bit of a lull when Marker joined about a year ago, bringing some new energy to the group. James and Nelson also run Bison Bookbinding and Letterpress, and owning a small business like that can sometimes be overwhelming. It probably also doesn’t help that Ricci is based in Port Angeles, putting a limit on how often they can get together. However, they are currently working up a new batch of his songs, with plans to put a recording out this summer.
I got to see some of The Librarians’ set at the Fire & Story festival this past January. It was a perfect, almost magical setting for them, with glowing fires all around and a mostly hushed, intent audience. Of course it was freezing cold and they were blowing on their hands between every song, but they did a magnificent job playing through that and bringing listeners into their music.
It probably helps that a lot of their songs have a storytelling quality to them. Hopefully the Admiralty Lounge will provide a similarly conducive atmosphere during their First Friday show.
News
I mentioned a few weeks back that the local high schoolers in the indie rock band Slowfall were getting ready to release their album. Well, it’s here, and I want to give them a special shout out this week. For a band that’s still in high school to develop a truly distinctive style, write a batch of songs as fully formed as these and then get a good recording of them done, all before you graduate, is quite the accomplishment.
The album is called “Peach St.” If I’m being totally honest, sure, there are some clunky moments scattered throughout when you can tell these are relatively inexperienced musicians. They more than make up for it, though, with some truly original melodies and arrangements. My personal favorite is the snarling energy and propulsive bass line of “Are We There Yet?” As a whole, their sound somehow manages to split the difference between garage rock and dream pop in a way I’ve never quite encountered before.
Also, I don’t know what we as a music community can do to encourage more high schoolers to play in bands, but it seems like that has really fallen off in recent years. I know Anacortes has a high school battle of the bands every year with five or six performers, but Bellingham doesn’t seem to have anything along those lines. Who knows, maybe Slowfall will inspire some of their peers?
Jesse Stanton's music column, The Beat Goes On, appears weekly. Reach him at jsbhammusic@gmail.com; @JSBhamMusic. Check with individual venues to make sure events are still taking place as scheduled. Live music events in Whatcom County: http://www.cascadiadaily.com/category/living/arts-and-entertainment/music/music-calendar
