review: 04.14.01- The Places, Joe Haege at Goodfoot
I went to see The Places and Joe Haege play at this bar on 28th and Stark tonight. It was wonderful.
Joe was first up- just an acoustic guitar and his steely voice. It's so easy to make playing solo acoustic guitar a complete fucking snore, and much harder to make it moving, interesting and inspired. I've seen so many unamazing, hackneyed solo guitar-touting musicians that I've almost given up hope that there is one that is actually listenable. It's nice to finally see a good one.
The Places really moved me too. Amy Annelle's voice is so deftly feminine but strong. She sang as if the songs were lullabies, but then moved to strong, vocally-muscular parts that created a nice variance in the tone of the music. I think that people saying she's like a "female Elliott Smith" have got it all wrong. They couldn't be more different. Elliott's frayed voice is broken and embittered, restrained. Amy Annelle's voice is pretty unrestrained. The power behind it is steady and sure. It is soft because her voice just is- not because it's been seemingly muted by tragedy or heartbreak. There's a lot of hopeful sweetness in her voice.