In-store: The Wooden Sky

The Wooden Sky

Sonic Boom Records. Monday, August 24, 2009.

A Monday night found a good-sized crowd down in the basement of Sonic Boom to see local crew The Wooden Sky¹ playing a free show to celebrate the release of their new album If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone. The textured five-piece played their stripped-down country-rock in a quiet fashion, more suitable for a back porch than a bustling saloon.² A smart move, then, that the band had been out on tour in a quiet configuration like this, playing living rooms and other quiet sanctuaries. Lead singer Gavin Gardiner — rocking a Charlie Starkweather kind of look — and his be-plaided cohort brought some swell touches of violin, keyb, harmonica and high falsetto backing vox to flesh out his songs, played softly enough that Gardiner's squeaky stool was as much a part of the sound as anything else.

It was such a relaxed vibe that I was rather glad I'd claimed a spot up front suitable for sitting down with an unobstructed view. After three or four songs, I found myself eased into a blissfully zoned-out kind of state of mind, just kind of soaking it up. I can't say all the songs made a huge impression on me, but I dug the mood. The band played a generous forty minutes — just enough for a Monday night on the way home from work.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ Formerly known as Friday Morning's Regret.

² Actually, this was very much of a piece of the last couple shows I've seen downstairs at Sonic Boom. I think if you took all three of these performances and compressed them down to three minutes, it'd turn out to be a cover of "Ripple".