A group of us saw Mary Timony and Unwed Sailor (plus a few others) last night at the Rex Theatre. I love live music. Sometimes I don’t know why I’m so lazy about following the local music scene.

First, I thought Unwed Sailor rocked. They are an instrumental outfit, more in the vain of Mogwai than Tortoise. They are also a critical element in the indie Christian rock scene (the bassist plays with Pedro the Lion. Honestly, there need to be more people like Unwed Sailor and David Bazan (aka Pedro the Lion)….really geniune, honest rock music that doesn’t beat you over the head with a bible. In fact, if you take a listen to Pedro the Lion’s stuff, the last thing you might think is that David Bazan is a Christian. But really listen to the music, and treat the albums like a novel, and you’ll get the message.

Ok, enough of that….

Mary Timony was also fantastic. It was just her, playing guitar or keyboards, and singing. In some ways, it felt like a bit of a letdown after Unwed Sailors very lush set, but the sounds were great, and her voice compensates for the lack of instruments. She also had this German cartoon playing on the screen onstage….no sound, just the cartoon playing behind her. It was compelling in an arty sorta way….

Posted on 21 March 2003