Thursday 6 November 2008

Langhorne Slim, The Borderline, 5/11/08



It’s the best I can do to keep from yee-harring after Langhorne Slim at the Borderline on Manette Street. It’s been a full 2 years since last seeing him play at the Knitting Factory, NYC, where he obligingly let two ticketless mates in on his request. That gig converted two staunch indie kids, fresh off their rights-of-passage-tour-of-the-world, to the dapper hillbilly-folk-country of Langhorne Slim.



Anyone new to the sound and exhilarating live performance he brings with the War Eagles (as his long standing backing band are now credited) will tonight have been converted too. From the outset with ‘The Electric Love letter’ to the crescendo of ‘And If It’s True’ Langhorne strutted and peacocked, hitting glorious high notes as well as he roused bar-room sing-a-longs. With no conceited mention of the previous days election result, modest acceptation of local adoration and a subtle approach to audience participation the set segwayed older, Dylan-judas-period-esque, folk tunes ‘I Will’ with produced and rounded newer efforts ‘Colette’.


By maintaining a close and personal relationship with his fans Langhorne was able to pause and hold the audience teetering on the breath of a next line before 'cutting it down' or shoo away the War Eagles for an intimate rendition of 'Worries'. Maybe one of the most endearing qualities a Pennsylvania born anti-folk, pro-folk, country-picking, nashville-hillbilly in a world of homegrown and imported shit-gaze, dark-wave, revivalist indie music is that every inch of his performance is believable. Never looking for one moment like he'll ever stop enjoying what he does.

It's not unusual to feel cheated by new material and hanker after older personal tunes but tonight no one did. Everything from the more recent self-titled album, and new unheard material shone like burning coal and welled up an emotional holler from anyone close enough to care.

Langhorne Slim ‘Rebel Side Of Heaven'

1 comment:

Blanche Dubois said...

Yo queria haber ido, pero tuve miedo de perderme en la ciudad.La verdad es que me gusta, y no solo eso tan jodidamente estupido del ingles del it's nice, lo cierto el es esa curva en la carretera que hace que al iris de tus ojos se le caiga una capa de piel como a las serpientes. Lo cierto es que me gusta el hecho de que todo esto se quede en el olvido, simplemente necesitaba escribirlo, do you understand me , don't you?