Bosque Brown delights
Matthew Ralph

I have to confess. I got this Texas artist/band's debut full-length "Plays Mara Lee Miller" a few months ago and hadn't listened to it a whole lot prior to their recent Philadelphia show. A few times in the car, here and there, but not significantly enough to make a fair judgment or write a review. This for a band whose demo was praised by Tangzine.com's former music editor. What was I thinking again?

As I've come to find more than once, there is nothing like a live show turning you onto a record. And there's nothing like listening to a record after seeing the band live. (I'm doing that as I write this in fact).

Less than a week after paying said exorbitant "handling" fees courtesy of the ever-so-music-fan-friendly Ticketmaster to see Sigur Ros at a fancy Philadelphia venue, I checked out Bosque Brown at one of my favorite city spots, the Circle East space, a rugged Jesus-loving church home to a host of artistic and spiritual gatherings.

Passing over three crumpled dollar bills to the always friendly face of Burnt Toast Vinyl's Scott Hatch — who noted in his introduction that he was meeting his friends from the band in person and seeing them live for the very first time — I unfolded a metal chair and sat in the middle of the room. Matt Stone and Will Stichter (of Saxon Shore) started off the show by putting everyone in daydream mode with their subtle soundscapes not all that dissimilar to their previous project Reels of White Softly Flow or the dreamy background music they were spinning on turntables as people arrived.

Taking over with the audience in a daze, Mara Lee Miller's voice immediately captured my attention as she belted out her first notes, sitting meakly in a folding chair with her bandmates close-by poised to deliver percussion, slide guitar, piano and electric guitar to add imagination to the compositions.

Live, Miller's voice is every bit as powerful and captivating as it is on record and she proved this most eloquently in the song "Still Afraid" as she cut through the loud crash of symbols and aggressive build-up of instrumentation. Those goose bumps that never seemed to appear a few nights earlier at Sigur Ros (I blame it on the band not being loud enough) showed up as Miller sang "I'm still afraid of the dark skies."

It's moments like that that define a good show, make you want to sign a band's mailing list afterwards and smile and shake hands with them before they leave. There were several other moments building as the show progressed and the band played through the catalog consisting mostly of songs from the debut. Other highlights included "Silver and Gold", the opening track on the record and the apocalyptic "Israel."

I can't quite put my finger on, but there is something old-fashioned and friendly about Bosque Brown, on recording, but especially live. Perhaps, the friendly familiar environment surrounded by friends had something to do with it. Or maybe it was just the joy of rediscovering a band I'd overlooked and hearing them deliver their music with such confidence and unpretentious comfort that reminded me again why musical gatherings are worth leaving work early and paying the bridge toll for.

Some reviewers have referenced Flannery O'Conner to describe the group's dusty country-folk tunes and lyrics that deal with bleak themes. Closing my eyes at one point during the show, I pictured myself in a dusty radio station somewhere in Texas in the '40s, Miller singing into a large silver microphone as a swooning deejay looks on. Good shows have a way of causing the mind to drift like that, taking you somewhere else and exposing your heart and mind to something tragic, something nostalgic, something beautiful.

posted [09.21.05]

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