Live!: Horse Feathers at The Aula

So earlier tonight I had the pleasure of attending a free concert at The Aula at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The Aula is a small brick/wooden chapel-esque building made to fit about 120 people at most. The show was relatively well attended and started out with two seniors Charlie Warren and Josh Sturm who played about three songs each but Josh Sturm's performance was the most notable of the two for his unexpectedly amazing guitar skills. After Charlie, assisted by Horse Feathers' Sam Cooper, closed the set with a cover of "Time is On My Side" in which he charming forgot several of the words, Brooklyn-based folk musician Grey Reverend took the stage.
His playing and singing were pretty good but his performanced lacked the energy to keep alot of the students interested. The highlight of his performance however was his penultimate song by the name of "Nightingale" which he wrote to Elliot Smith. It was by far the most interesting and memory of all the songs he played and experimented heavily with the "standard" songwriting format.
By the time Horse Feathers got their turn many of the students were in need of a major energy boost which of course was provided by opener "Working Poor". Their setlist was a mix of music from their past two albums Words Are Dead and House With No Home with several songs from their latest release Thistled Spring thrown in for good measure. While there wasn't too much offered in the form of between song banter, Horse Feathers played with an energy was that both hypnotically captivating as well as even during their slower songs. Their performance was so well received that they were cheered into giving an encore to which they played a cover of Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl" featured on their Cascades 7 inch.
Their performance was definitely something you had to witness as lead singer played the tamborine with his feet while singing and playing guitar, Sam Cooper swapped banjo for violin for drum set for piano even playing the banjo and bass drum at the same time. Nathan Crockett traded his violin for a saw for songs "Cascades" and Heathen's Kiss" and Catherine Odell managed to right her cello's slipping endpin with Nathan's shoe without missing a single beat. The band apologized in advance in the event we couldn't hear them as a result of their sound system but no apologies were necessary as the band play magnificently in a mix of studio recording like accuracy and live performing engagement. It was a concert I'm sure I won't soon forget and with performances of this caliber I sure hope to attend more in the future.