For sure, the most distinctive - and best - thing about Jolie Holland's music is her singing, and over the course of this show, the idiosyncratic phrasing and voice that I've come to know so well through repeated spins of Springtime Can Kill You, The Living and the Dead and (to a lesser extent, so far) Escondida was in full evidence, translating clearly and expressively in the live setting, as did the subtleties and underlying arcs of her songs, which all added up to a very good show indeed.
Jolie has been the closest thing to a soundtrack that the last two or three months have had, and the timing for her concert was perfect for me - still on the crest of enthusiasm, but having had enough time to live with her music for a bit - and it was wonderful. She did all of the songs that I wanted to hear and then some, refashioning them in small ways but retaining whatever it is that makes them so great in their recorded versions. The band was tight; the show was loose; and it was all very warm while hinting at the starkness that's always at least implicit in her music. It made me happy.
(w/ Michelle)
