Teitur: Quite The Singer
Teitur @ Jammin' Java
April 29th
April 29th
Recommended beverage:
A cup of joe.
A cup of joe.
Absent caffeine, the relaxed trance this music puts you in
will make you pass out.
The sweet voice of Teitur Lassen was muffled in the States when his second album came out in 2006 for Teitur, who hails from the Faroe Islands near Denmark, had visa troubles and couldn’t tour here to promote it. But he’s here now, with a brand new third effort, titled The Singer, and it’s quite a departure from his previous works.
I was introduced to Teitur’s music when he first came to the States to promote his debut album, when he played Iota opening for Glen Phillips. He has played Jammin Java solo several times since and returned last night with a full band in tow. Being a CD release party, Teitur decided to perform the entire new album, including two seven-minute songs that he seemed a little worried about imposing on the crowd. One of those epic songs, “Legendary Afterparty,” had such massive tempo swings, it was almost unsettling. The other, “Guilt by Association,” told a true story that fascinated Teitur of a man who served time after shooting a gun through the fog and accidentally killing another man. A little dismal, indeed.
Much of this new album is fairly mellow but definitely leans toward the experimental, which is refreshing. It’s a whole new kind of alternative. His band makes heavy use of bass and various horns and woodwinds, including at times flute and clarinet. It’s very much a storyteller album and Teitur coined it best when he described it as “theatrical.” A few songs sounded as though, in preparation for writing them, he had dinner with Philip Glass, listened to a lot of later Beatles, then went to the circus. Perhaps the most mainstream, upbeat, and fun is the new song “Catherine the Waitress.” For that one, he asked the crowd to stand—many of whom were sitting on the floor as few chairs were set up, and a few even bopped around to the beat. They respectfully remained standing until the end.
After unloading this entire album, brand new to us all, he did reward us with the familiar and played three of his earlier songs. He played “Louis Louis,” not the Kingsmen song but one he wrote to pay homage to Louis Armstrong. It’s a lovely song from his aforementioned—largely unheard in the United States—second album. He ended the show playing two songs, solo acoustic, from his debut album, Poetry and Aerplanes, an album packed with gorgeous acoustic ballads. The two wisely chosen songs were “Josephine” and “I Was Just Thinking.”
Opening the show first was Teitur’s bandmate Helgi, alternating between trombone, guitar, and piano as well as singing. Helgi, who hails from Austria, played a brief and inventive one-man set. The second opener was an excellent New York-based band called Old Springs Pike. Fun, raucous with great vocal harmonies. Watch for them.
I was introduced to Teitur’s music when he first came to the States to promote his debut album, when he played Iota opening for Glen Phillips. He has played Jammin Java solo several times since and returned last night with a full band in tow. Being a CD release party, Teitur decided to perform the entire new album, including two seven-minute songs that he seemed a little worried about imposing on the crowd. One of those epic songs, “Legendary Afterparty,” had such massive tempo swings, it was almost unsettling. The other, “Guilt by Association,” told a true story that fascinated Teitur of a man who served time after shooting a gun through the fog and accidentally killing another man. A little dismal, indeed.
Much of this new album is fairly mellow but definitely leans toward the experimental, which is refreshing. It’s a whole new kind of alternative. His band makes heavy use of bass and various horns and woodwinds, including at times flute and clarinet. It’s very much a storyteller album and Teitur coined it best when he described it as “theatrical.” A few songs sounded as though, in preparation for writing them, he had dinner with Philip Glass, listened to a lot of later Beatles, then went to the circus. Perhaps the most mainstream, upbeat, and fun is the new song “Catherine the Waitress.” For that one, he asked the crowd to stand—many of whom were sitting on the floor as few chairs were set up, and a few even bopped around to the beat. They respectfully remained standing until the end.
After unloading this entire album, brand new to us all, he did reward us with the familiar and played three of his earlier songs. He played “Louis Louis,” not the Kingsmen song but one he wrote to pay homage to Louis Armstrong. It’s a lovely song from his aforementioned—largely unheard in the United States—second album. He ended the show playing two songs, solo acoustic, from his debut album, Poetry and Aerplanes, an album packed with gorgeous acoustic ballads. The two wisely chosen songs were “Josephine” and “I Was Just Thinking.”
Opening the show first was Teitur’s bandmate Helgi, alternating between trombone, guitar, and piano as well as singing. Helgi, who hails from Austria, played a brief and inventive one-man set. The second opener was an excellent New York-based band called Old Springs Pike. Fun, raucous with great vocal harmonies. Watch for them.
posted by Dana @ 12:40 PM
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