Luckily bought an advance ticket for the first set of this sold out performance at the Firehouse. The quintet consisted of Raymond on trumpet, flugelhorn, S. ( Sean) Carey on drums and vocals, Romain Collin on piano, Katie Ernst on standup bass, and Dave Devine on guitar. Raymond and Carey are old friends from Wisconsin. Their musical paths diverged with Raymond a Grammy nominated jazzbo and Carey assuming the role of right hand man for fellow Wisconsin indie hermit JustinVernon aka Bon Iver. Bon Iver has secured a place in indie rock royalty with a string of popular releases and high profile collaborations. Raymond and Carey acknowledge that the Firehouse is a new setting for them, but were gushing at the chance to exhibit their music to a different audience. The music had a meditative movie score feel. With trumpet and creamy toned flugel out front and Carey’s soprano singing, Shadowlands leaned more toward Sufjan Stevens than Chuck Mangione. The backing crew were solid musicians with Collin taking a nice solo and Ernst taking lead vocal duties on Some Other Time, a Leonard Bernstein composition. The modern classical lane is a thing, like the Dessner brothers from The National, this crew occupies the space between popular music and modern composition. Raymond did a tricky trumpet looping sequence through a Prophet 6 which was excellent. I’m always amazed at drumming singers, Carey’s spare shading was not strenuous and seemed not to affect his singing. The Firehouse faithful, to their credit, seemed to embrace this decidedly non-skronky, downright melodic, improv-less offering. For those who complain of the inaccessible sets offered at this venue, would have been wise to get a seat for this enjoyable set.
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