Having missed them at Austin City Limits over the weekend, and witnessing way too little of their set at Splendour earlier this year, I was pretty excited to get the chance to see Irish up-and-comers Little Green Cars at the intimate Echo in Silverlake, California. In what is the band’s second US jaunt since they were in Australia in July (busy much!!?), they were accompanied by local supports The Wild Reeds and Seattle’s Kris Orlowski.
The Wild Reeds were at the end of their set as I walked into the venue, though I was immediately floored by their sound. Made up of three girls up the front and two guys up the back, the band take influence from the world of Americana, and in some ways remind me of what Fanny Lumsden does with her band in Australia; except here there are three female vocalists and an accordion to round out the sound. They’re a tight band with a bright future, and the two songs I heard were supremely solid, even beautiful. Definitely keep your eyes and ears out for them.
Next up were Kris Orlowski from Seattle. The lead singer’s voice reminds me a bit of Paolo Nutini mixed in with elements of Dave Hosking from Australia’s Boy & Bear. An international sound if there ever was one, coming from this five piece with keys, bits of slide guitar and some backing harmonies. Tracks like “Way You Are” are very polished and deserve some serious radio love. They were also joined on stage by Sarah Watkins on violin for the track “Warsaw”, which encouraged an even fuller sound.
Their music certainly takes elements from the folk scene, tracks like “All My People Go” – not to be confused with The Presets song – will invite immediate comparisons to Mumford & Sons, and some of their newer material to Boy & Bear, though there is a lot more going on here, with influence from the pop and rock worlds as much as anything else, with the result being polished, radio friendly tunes. The “Time After Time” cover was a nice touch, too. Also worth mentioning is that these guys weren’t just finely tuned as a live unit, but also super professional, as they battled through some technical problems through the set (a radio station was coming through the foldback, namely!). The set ended with the title track off their forthcoming album.
Following an impressive 15 minute changeover (we could learn a thing or two in Australia!), Little Green Cars hit the stage. The Irish five piece (with a sixth touring member on keyboards) are in that really fantastic time from the point of view of the fan: they’re on a headline tour of America but still tuning their own instruments. In my opinion, this is the best time to see a band on the rise, and they did not disappoint with a set celebrating their debut album Absolute Zero.
The set started small and acapella but grew as the night went on. The band often have all five members singing at one time, and can feature up to four guitars. The primary vocal duties are shared between Stevie Appleby and Faye O’Rourke, with both employing very different styles, whilst complementing each other nicely. Crowd highlights from the set were scattered throughout, though my favourite moments were towards the end with “Them”, “My Love Took Me Down To The River To Silence Me” and “The Consequences of Not Sleeping”, which was performed without amplification in the crowd; starting small and ending big, the band have crafted a fine set indeed.
The crowd were clear fans of the band, singing along to their most popular tracks, such as “Harper Lee”, which came early in the night, as well as the vast majority of material on display. With high energy and a fantastic sound, Little Green Cars are shaping themselves up nicely as they continue their jaunt around the US and the rest of the world and i will be exciting to see where that takes them…
Photo by Ian Laidlaw from Splendour in the Grass.
