The Elected at The Echo — February 28, 2006
I’m a day late in posting this…and about two weeks late in posting anything at all (apologies for that…I was having issues with my domain and web host but seem to have solved those).
Molly and I went to the neighborhood club The Echo on Tuesday night and saw The Elected play a solid set. It is always fun to see a band play a show in their own neighborhood; I could tell that they were very comfortable and into having a fun time.
The Elected is led by Blake Sennett, who is a permanent member of Rilo Kiley. The play a fairly straightforward melodic alt-country, much like the Decemberists would sound if they were less dark and didn’t sing about pirates. I recently started listening to The Elected on Yahoo! Music Engine so figured I’d go check them out. I’ve not fallen in love with any of their stuff but I thought it might be a fun way to spend a Tuesday night.
I had never seen either band (Rilo Kiley or The Elected) previously, so I did not realize that Sennett was basically standing right in front of Molly and me talking with friends throughout the sets of the first two opening bands. With his thin, manicured mustache and height that must somehow clock in even an inch or two shorter than me, he isn’t hard to miss.
I realized how even more unfamiliar I was with The Elected when he took the stage and opened up the night with the song "Greetings in Braille", a fantastic song that my brother-in-law put on a mix CD for Molly and me once…but a song which I had no idea was from this band.
The Elected went straight from "Greetings in Braille", which is off their first album Me First, to "The Bank and Trust", which is on their latest album, "Sun, Sun, Sun"…and is my favorite track on that album.
They kept their energy up for most of the night, with exception being during a short stretch of accoustic versions of 2-3 songs. Overall, they sounded great live and had great stage presence. I wish that their recent album, which is pretty and nice but lacks a bit of bite overall, had the same energy and depth of sound that their live show did.
