A good friend of mine gave me two CDs for my birthday, much earlier this year. The first one was the latest record from The National, and the second was Weathervanes, the Freelance Whales debut album much. So I popped in the National first - listened to it twice on a long drive I had to take, then took it out and never listened to it again. I wanted to like it, I really did, but couldn't...

Weathervanes, on the other hand was a very different story - from the opening banjo notes on the first track, Generator (1st Floor), I knew that this was going to be something fairly different - and I was write. Melodic vocal lines, up to five part harmonies and quirky, singable, lyrics over an array of instruments (of both the "toy" and "professional" variety) dominated the record - invoking bands as contrasting as (older) Sufjan Stevens and The Postal Service. All in all, a beautiful, odd record, that didn't leave my car CD player for weeks.

To top it off, one of my friends sent me a YouTube link of them playing in a New York subway station, and it was a ridiculously cool viral video of the five players singing and playing without mics.  So I was pretty excited to find out they were coming to Dallas.



The band has definitely moved beyond the "cutsey-ness" of the early performances in barns and subway stations, and have embraced their inner rock stars. As benefiting a national tour - the band has upgrade to full on rock mode, with lots of electric guitars, while keeping the ecleticness of their multi part harmonies, and cool instruments like the harmonium, banjo, xylophone etc.

The set was absolutely solid - they basically played the entire first record (sans the instrumental tracks) plus new single/recording Enzymes (download it for free here), plus a couple of new songs, Footprints and something whose title I haven't figured out yet (if you have a set list from a recent show and know the name of the opening track, please drop me a note.)

Be sure to check them out if they are coming near you - you won't be disappointed.

Here's a few tracks for your pleasure - I like the new single, Enzymes, but think the live version is even better...

Live MP3 MP3s:
Enzymes
Generator (2nd Floor)
Broken Horse

Tour Dates:
WINTER 2010 US TOUR (all dates w/ Miniature Tigers)
Sunday, November 14th / 6:30pm / Hotel Congress / Tucson, AZ
Tuesday, November 16th / 8pm / Detroit Bar / Costa Mesa, CA
Thursday, November 18th / 8pm / Troubedour / Los Angeles, CA
Friday, November 19th / 8pm / Rickshaw Stop / San Francisco, CA
Sunday, November 21st / 8pm / Doug Fir Lounge / Portland, OR
Tuesday, November 23rd / 8pm / Crocodile Cafe / Seattle, WA
Wednesday, November 24th / 8pm / The Biltmore Cabaret / Vancouver, BC
Thursday, November 25th / HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Saturday, November 27th / 8pm / Kilby Court / Salt Lake City, UT
Monday, November 29th / 8pm / Hi-Dive / Denver, CO
Wednesday, December 1st / 8pm / 7th Street Entry / Minneapolis, MN
Thursday, December 2nd / 8pm / Lincoln Hall / Chicago, IL
Friday, December 3rd / 8pm / The Basement / Columbus, OH
Saturday, December 4th / 8pm / Brillobox / Pittsburgh, PA
Sunday, December 5th / 8pm / Mohawk Place / Buffalo, NY
Tuesday, December 7th / 8pm / El Mocambo Club / Toronto, ONT
Wednesday, December 8th / 8pm / La Sala Rossa / Montreal, QC
Thursday, December 9th / 8pm / Middle East / Boston, MA
Friday, December 10th / 8pm / Iron Horse / Northampton, MA
Saturday, December 11th / 8pm / Lily’s Pad / New Haven, CT
Tuesday, December 14th / 8pm / Johnny Brenda’s / Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday, December 15th / 8pm / Webster Hall / New York, NY