Seattle-based folk-rockers The Cave Singers are a band born
from the ashes of others. Founded
in 2007 by former Pretty Girls Make Graves bassist-turned-guitarist Derek Fudesco,
vocalist Pete Quirk of Hint Hint, and drummer Marty Lund of Cobra High, The
Cave Singers have cobbled together a distinctive sound that is very much their
own.
It is a sound both balmy and bleak, delightfully twangy and
occasionally raucous yet quietly melancholy at the same time, all blended
together with a shrewd maturity that could easily confound them for an act far
older than five years. It’s the kind of music that’s perfect for a melancholy
Sunday—just lively enough to brighten your mood, just weary enough to appeal to
your hangover.
Recording their first album, Invitation Songs, mere months after the breakup of Pretty Girls Make
Graves, The Cave Singers have been on a steady track ever since, following up
with two more excellent records—2008’s warm and breezy Welcome Joy and 2011’s rather darker No Witch—both of which have become personal favorites of
mine. The band has passed through Atlanta several times since then, most
notably as openers for fellow
Seattlites Fleet Foxes, but somehow I kept missing them. In fact, it was not
until this past Tuesday evening at The Earl in East Atlanta that I was finally
able to experience The Cave Singers live.
The show began with two very different but not particularly
memorable opening acts: the mellow country blues of Shane Tutmarc and the
spastic garage punk of Dan Sartain.
Finally, after a bit of hemming and hawing, The Cave Singers took the
stage.
The night’s lineup included the three founding members plus
Fleet Foxes bassist and flutist Morgan Henderson, who rounded out the quartet
quite nicely with his rich, multi-instrumental sounds. However, it was vocalist
Pete Quirk, looking like the long-lost towheaded cousin of the Luigi Brothers
with his small stature and baseball cap, who really set the tone for the
night. Quirk’s lovably
awkward between-song banter and spasmodic little dances endeared him to the
audience and provided an interesting contrast with the rawness of his vocals,
along with a whole slew of instruments he’d pick up, play, and throw
aside—guitar (electric and acoustic), tambourine, harmonica, melodica, maracas.
Drummer Marty Lund provided the steady heartbeat behind
Quirk’s warm warbling while guitarist Derek Fudesco was nothing but a mask of
shaggy brown hair and sound, completely immersed in his music with no audience
interaction whatsoever. The music, however, was great, from the clambering
stomp and swagger of “Black Leaf” to the wistful amble and creak of “Swim Club”
to a sun-dappled rendition of “Beach House” that made you want to pick it up
and wrap it around you like a warm blanket.
Ultimately, the performance was an apt re-creation of their
recorded work, but didn’t really bring anything new to the table, aside from a
few unfamiliar songs that hopefully indicate a new album in the works. The Cave Singers turned out not to be a
band that really jams out live, which was a bit frustrating as they seemed like
they could be capable of doing so.
As such, while they played a fair number of songs, the entire
performance, encore included, lasted only a little over an hour. Perhaps they forgot that this time they
were, in fact, the headliners we all came to see.
