[Part One of Tony’s 2013 Doe Bay Fest coverage can be found here.]
Courtney Marie Andrews is only 22, but she possesses the voice of an old soul–bittersweet, spare, and evocative. Her somber, lovely songs provided the perfect soundtrack for the overcast but abidingly pretty Doe Bay grounds when she opened up the Otter Cove Stage Saturday morning. The Passenger String Quartet were once more on hand to lend shading to an already-strong batch of songs.
Curtains for You frontmen Michael and Matthew Gervais, officially playing as Mikey and Matty, followed Andrews at Otter Cove. Their winning pop songs received a mini-Pet Sounds treatment by an all-star band comprised of the PSQ, Maldives drummer Faustine Hudson, Seattle Rock Orchestra bass player/mastermind Scott Teske, and Doe Bay headliner Ken Stringfellow. This entire ensemble (including Teske and the Gervais Brothers, three of the tallest guys at the Fest) fit under a tiny awning shielding them from persistent sprinkles, a hat trick that stood as one of Doe Bay ’13’s logistic miracles. Oh, and they sounded great, too.
Doe Bay’s 2013 programming allowed fans to catch most acts without conflict, but counter-scheduling forced me to miss the very awesome tuba-punk stylings of Orcas Island trio Onodrim in favor of a Field Stage set by Seattle pop band Tomten. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. The latter’s long-player Yesterday’s Children spent an awful lot of time on my earbuds last year, and Tomten’s easygoing, irresistible set went down great as the sun began reappearing. Lead singer/keyboardist/songwriter Brian Noyeswatkins’ playful, charmingly odd songs made subtle nods to musical forebears like Ray Davies and Jarvis Cocker without ever descending to simple imitation, and he and his band of unassuming pros knew how to play the hell out of ‘em.
Animal Eyes, a Portland-by-way of Alaska combo, followed Tomten with some impeccably-played, galloping pop that sounded like a more upbeat cross between Devotchka and Ravenna Woods. They’re a young band still working out their identity, but they’re damned impressive live, and the raw materials of brilliance–impressive instrumental chops, complex rhythms and harmonies, and imaginative songwriting–were present in spades. I can hardly wait to hear what they’ve got up their sleeves next.
Like Animal Eyes, The Torn ACLs are a band whose youth practically bursts from every note they play, but unlike their mainstage predecessors, The ACLs pound out a more straightforward variety of pop (think Ben Gibbard fronting Weezer or Vampire Weekend, and you’re about there). Unashamedly awkward and energetic as hell, they brought a sense of pogo-inducing energy to the laid-back Field Stage crowd.
Seattle quartet La Luz use vintage sounds (in this case, the lo-fi sting and swing of garage rock and surf music) as their starting point, and then like any good rock band, they run with them. The Seattle quartet provided one of Doe Bay ’13’s most bad-assed sets, tearing through their songs with the concise coolness of a James Dean-era motorcycle gang and even inducing one audience member to do The Worm onstage. Guitarist Shana Cleveland fired out some mean surf licks, and the entire quartet contributed seductive, glacial harmonies.
Cumulus have been netting some serious local buzz lately, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign and their recent signing to Chris Walla’s Atlantic subsidiary label Trans- Records. But by the end of their propulsive Field Stage set, all I cared about was hearing them again, and soon. The band presented their winsome, insanely catchy pop with a twist of shoegazing shimmer, and sported just enough tweaks to more than justify all the hype. ‘Tis a foolish mortal who’s not utterly band-crushing on them after their performance.
Sometimes, all you need for a party is some good-time blues and soul, played to perfection. That’s precisely what Quinn Deveaux and the Blue Beat Review delivered, strutting through a smooth and charming set of covers and originals with enough snap to render ‘em much more than just a competent cover band.
The sounds made by Portland quintet Radiation City defy easy categorization (the Andrews Sisters fronting Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys while playing new wave covers, maybe?). Then again, a lot of luminously beautiful things in life can’t be easily pinned down. Graduating from last year’s Otter Cove to this year’s Doe Bay Field Stage, RC made the most of their increased audience, delivering unbridled energy and showmanship to match their songwriting brilliance (then again, that sense of fun shouldn’t surprise anyone who read their interview with Kelsey a few weeks back). Best new-ish band in the Northwest right now? Could be…
Built to Spill provided an appropriately epic capper to Doe Bay’s official onstage roster. The Northwest indie rock godfathers hauled out a virtual greatest-hits collection culled from their sizable catalog, with band leader/singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Doug Martsch amply demonstrating why he’s worshiped by peers and acolytes the world over.
Simply put, he’s indie-rock’s Neil Young–a songwriter of clarity and depth who plays his instrument with a combination of technique and restless ferocity that remains a beauty to behold (fellow axe-wielders Brett Nelson and Jim Roth are no slouches, either). Fittingly, the band closed their set with a blistering cover of Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand,” joined by at least a half-dozen guitarists from other acts who’d shared the Doe Bay Field Stage over the preceding 36 hours.
It wouldn’t be a Doe Bay Fest without unofficial festival house band The Maldives playing a full-fledged set of their own. This year, they tore up the Yoga Studio for a late-night session that once again steamed windows and put the rock in roots-rock.
Saturday night segued into Sunday morning with several secret shows popping up hither and yon at the resort. Sadly, I missed Doug Martsch fronting the Passenger String Quartet. But a late-night acoustic set from Star Anna, Quinn Deveaux, Bobby Bare Jr., Ken Stringfellow, and Seattle singer/songwriter Vikesh Kapoor more than made up for it. Star Anna’s astonishing, mournful cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” just might’ve stood as the most transcendental three minutes of Doe Bay 2013.
Doe Bay Fest doesn’t so much end as coast away on a mellow vibe of sunshine and relaxed, off-the-cuff music sessions throughout Sunday. This year’s festival was no exception, with several acts bringing their A-game to the modest environs of the Doe Bay Yoga studio. Before heading back to the mainland, I caught stirring sets by Kapoor (whose eerily Dylanesque delivery and strong songs sorta induced chills) and OK Sweetheart mastermind Erin Austin (whose soulful singing sent her set of addictive Brill-Building flavored pop songs into the stratosphere). If you had to return to the mundane necessity of the real world, you couldn’t have asked for a better send-off.
