Recording: This is Awesome

Artist: This is Awesome

Song: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times [The Beach Boys cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 20, 2016.

This is Awesome - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

Headed by master guitarist Christine Bougie, this quartet (including Dafydd Hughes, wurlitzer; Julia Hambleton, clarinet; and Andrew Downing, cello) brought an absolutely packed crowd to the Southern Cross Lounge to hear their front-to-back instrumental re-interpretation of The Beach Boy's seminal Pet Sounds album. Stripping the concept of composer Brian Wilson's "teenage symphony to God" down to a chamber quartet, these arrangements brought out the underlying yearning melancholy, especially when, such as here, Bougie switched over to lap steel. The group has essayed the album before and promises to come back to it again — given the turnout for this, expect to see the next performance in a larger room. (It was also recorded direct to tape by the band, so keep an eye out for a chance to hear this in hi-fidelity.)

[Christine Bougie and Dafydd Hughes (along with Jessie Baird) will be back at The Tranzac tomorrow (Monday, January 25th in the early slot at the Southern Cross Lounge.]