Sonoi/Judson Claiborne; January 16, 2010; The Project Lodge

I hadn’t been to the Project Lodge since it had changed hands. Just in case they no longer allowed patrons to stop by the charming Cork & Bottle liquor store down the block and bring their own to the show, I figured we had better go have a drink the Caribou prior to show time. I should have known better. The venue hadn’t changed much since the last time I was there, and they were keeping its best feature in place. I’m also not sure why I thought it would actually start at the listed time of 7:30, but all of those factors (plus foolishly not eating dinner) converged, leading to a pretty healthy buzz before the show even started. Even so, I am convinced that I would have been fine if it hadn’t been for the overly large bottle of cherry dopplebock that Michelle proclaimed icky and handed to me.

Openers Judson Claiborne, which like Richmond Fontaine and Milton Mapes isn’t exactly the name of anyone in the band, finally took the stage at 8:30. I figured they held off starting hoping that more people would show up, but even though the room was bare before they came out it magically filled in pretty decently after they took the stage. Lead singer Chris Salveter had contacted me previously about playing at the house. I liked their MySpace stuff, especially their cover of James’s “Ring the Bells” but told them I usually don’t book bands I haven’t seen. I’m not sure how well they would draw, but they would certainly sound good in the basement as they played a pretty, atmospheric set. Percussionist Jamie Topper (girl) shook weird bracelets of wood pieces, tapped a set of congas and struck little metal cowbells while Darrell Greiwe strummed electric guitar and a forlorn banjo. Sad-eyed Salveter in his gigantic bunny fur hat played sweet acoustic melodies and told musical stories with Jamie Carter (boy) keeping time on drums.

I’ve known bass player/keyboardist Ryan Hembrey for a long time, but as much as I adore him as a person, I’ve only been about 50/50 on the bands he’s in. The amount I love Chris Mills is equal to how bored I am by Edith Frost, the degree to which I was enchanted by Can-Ky-Ree proportional to how grating I found Manishevitz. So I was a little worried when I found out that the same Adam Busch who fronted that band and whose voice was my main complaint was also the singer in Sonoi. Turns out that Manishevitz just wasn’t the right band for him, but this is. Huh, turns out he’s better at whispering than yelling, sitting instead of jumping around. In addition to his usual duties on bass, Hembrey also played keyboards and I-Mac. The trio was completed by drummer Pierce Doerr, shaggily handsome boy who was as good a drummer as he was a ping pong player. Though being a little drunk, I’m not sure how good a judge of either I was. I do know he didn’t lose a game all night.

Judson Claiborne








Sonoi