The haunting melancholy of AA Bondy
Today dawned steely grey and covered in snow. While it was nice to get a slow start, I feel a touch of the seasonal blues, unexpectedly.
It’s the right kind of day for the sad, slow beauty of AA Bondy.
I fell in love with Bondy’s music last year and almost named his When The Devil’s Loose (2009, Fat Possum) one of my top albums of the year. Bondy wrote of it, evocatively, “To me [the album] sounds like a radio washed ashore after a shipwreck.” The songs are subtle on the album, but it is really something to hear what they become live.
HearYa Sessions recently had Bondy and his backing band into the studio, and I was amazed by the way “Slow Parade” becomes an electric beast at the end. It starts like morphine and ends like ten-foot waves crashing.
Slow Parade – AA Bondy
Drag your shadow down the street
is it you I was to meet?
with your saints there on a chain
Waiting on another rain
And I’m going down
where the waves will surround
to the roll and the pound of the wild, wild sea
singin sweet to me…
Also, be sure to listen to the HearYa version of “Mightiest of Guns.” That minute-long slowburn introduction here puts a lump in my throat.
CONTEST FOR THE DENVER KIDS:
Come see AA Bondy tonight at the Hi-Dive! I have four tickets to give away, so please email me ASAP if you’d like to attend! Willy Mason and A(aron) Tom Collins open.
AA BONDY TOUR DATES
28 Jan – Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
29 Jan – Jackpot, Lawrence, KS
30 Jan – Maintenance Shop, Ames, IA
1 Feb – High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
2 Feb – Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
3 Feb – Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY
4 Feb – Valentine’s Downstairs, Albany, NY
5 Feb – T.T. The Bear’s, Boston, MA
6 Feb – Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY
Name: Heather Browne
The new album hasn’t done as much for me as the one before it. That said, he’s a much better performer with a band than he is all by his lonesome. There was a lot of joy in those sad songs last night in Salt Lake City. I’m just glad I gave him another chance. I hope you experience all that I did (and then some).
Dainon — January 28, 2010 @ 12:43 pm
yay! i’m glad you made it out. tomorrow we will compare notes
browneheather — January 28, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
and the tickets are gone! sorry! come out anyways – it’s only $12!
browneheather — January 28, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
Can I just reiterate the fact that we must be musical twins?!
I came across this yesterday and was planning to send the link to you. Glad you posted it
LOVE hearing these songs with a backing band. Hope you have a fabulous time at the show tonight – I’m incredibly jealous!
Megan — January 28, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
He’s becoming my new definition of “refreshing sadness.” This live session is fantastic, though I really want him to shout that “you can’t get your arms around everybody / you cannot carry the doom” part in “When the Devil’s Loose.” Hits so hard for me on the record. I’m seeing him in Boston next week, and I couldn’t be more excited!
Michael — January 29, 2010 @ 10:56 am
it was a jawdroppingly good show. i want to run away with august arthur bondy (as he told me his real name while we chatted over his cigarette on the sidewalk).
my highest recommendation for a live show.
browneheather — January 29, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
Thank you for introducing me to this fantastic music. Denver show was amazing!
Scott S — January 30, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
I can’t believe I didn’t see you there, Heather!!! I was looking so forward to meeting you… I even brought these special ankle sweaters I knitted.
Great show!!! I wanted to ask for one of his finger picks but thought that might be weird.
Harold — February 3, 2010 @ 10:43 am
ooh, ankle sweaters! i hear the angora ones are all the rage now.
maybe next time, harold. maybe next time.
browneheather — February 3, 2010 @ 11:29 am
AA Bondy is on Daytrotter again!
Miguel — February 4, 2010 @ 9:41 am
He recently played Madison and, naturally, it was an amazing show. Here’s a video we posted on our blog: http://trueendeavorsblog.com/2010/02/03/aa_bondy_video/
Shelley — February 4, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
first time listening
real good
lafamos — February 9, 2010 @ 1:16 pm