David Bazan @ Southpaw

"I was in my cups." David Bazan relayed last night in the middle of another story. Only an hour earlier I had to come up with a motto for myself and I decided upon "My thoughts are never more clear than when I am in my cups." Bazan and I, we think alike.

Bazan tells lots of stories in his set, taking questions, losing himself in tangent. As much as I roll my eyes at lame banter, he kept things spontaneous and natural. He poked fun at the Sweet Sixteen party downstairs, which I was just dying to crash. He began to play "Foregone Conclusions," but a few bars into it stopped because he thought he had a better one that fit thematically with the previous. Too bad, because it's one of his songs that sets apart from the rest.

75 minutes is a long time to hold the attention as a solo singer/guitarist. He almost pulled it off, but by the end I had figured out his formula. All of his songs sound the same, but no one quite sounds like him. His website claims a "one-man melodic pop show" except it's far from pop, and the melodies are interesting -but they don't differ enough from song to song. This is hidden in the clamour of a full band, but starkly exposed solo.

Some favorites of mine he didnt play:
Pedro the Lion - Rapture (mp3)
Pedro the Lion - I Am Always the One Who Calls (mp3)