Whew. It seems Saturday night’s Charlemagne show was just an anomaly for the duo. Tonight’s happy hour show under the name Auntie Em & Uncle Carl was quite enjoyable compared to the disappointing show at the Frequency. Of course, this set consisted of mostly covers, but I don’t think that was the difference, mostly because I only knew a couple of them. Besides, I am not really sure that playing one of your own songs recorded with a different band counts as a cover. That song may have been the highlight of the show as Pointy Bird Lisa Marine reprised her role as NoahJohn’s bassist.
The Pointy Birds were originally known as Tancho! Tancho! with Dave Zero on bass and a different guitarist. I saw their first show and Zero warned me that I had better not blog about it. Since I was only able to stay for a couple songs, it was easy to do as he asked. Since then Marine replaced Zero, Julia Zeimer joined the band and they changed their name to the Pointy Birds. Through all those changes they were playing shows, but somehow I never saw them again till now. The big news was that lead singer Alex Fortney has recently broken his dependence on the music stand that held his lyrics. Everyone seemed to think that it was about time, but after seeing Lucinda Williams completely freak out once after forgetting to turn the page in the cheat sheet book always at her feet, I’ve never been one to deny people their security blankets.
I get the feeling that if I knew their songs they wouldn’t all sound so similar, but without knowing them Fortney’s deadpan voice and the fact that they are mostly mid-tempo dooms them. The best of the bunch were made memorable with backing vocals from Marine and/or Zeimer. Since they are usually sharing bills with some of my favorite local bands, I’m sure I’ll be seeing them again. Their melancholy fare is actually my kind of music so we’ll see what happens as I get to know them better.
Auntie Em & Uncle Carl
The Pointy Birds
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