It’s been easy to take Sean Nelson for granted for the last decade. Even if you factor out his work as lead singer and lyricist for pop band Harvey Danger (which quietly folded in 2009), the guy’s been everywhere.
Did you hear records by The Long Winters, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, or Nada Surf during the 2000s? If so, you heard Nelson’s clear tenor voice in the background. Joni Mitchell fans read his book on her classic record, Court and Spark. He scrawled for The Stranger for years, sang live with REM prior to that band’s break-up, and belted out Lennon/McCartney chestnuts during the Seattle Rock Orchestra’s Beatles tributes. Hell, if you went to the Seattle International Film Festival last month you could well have seen Sean Nelson on the big screen, chewing scenery.
It’s been way too long since Sean Nelson’s put songs of his own out in the world, though, so the recent release of his first full-length solo record constitutes a pretty damned big deal. Make Good Choices assembles songs that Nelson’s crafted over the last eight years, both alone and with collaborators like Peter Buck and Death Cab’s Chris Walla. The end result more than justifies the wait: I’ll eat either of the two hats I own if a better pop record sees release this year.
Nelson’s wry wit and versatile singing provide the thread that unifies the record as it ricochets between melancholy balladry (“Advance and Retreat”), brash piano pop (“The World Owes Me a Living (and I Intend to Collect)”), and nervous guitar rock (the jumpy, catchy title track). All of those elements were in effusive flower last Wednesday at Neumos, where the singer/songwriter headlined in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
With his gravity-defying mop of corkscrew-curly hair and a stage persona that combined showy theatricality with self-deprecating humor, Nelson strutted and preened through a 75-minute set comprised of two-thirds Make Good Choices and one-third brand-new material. His wife Shenandoah Davis played keyboards and duetted charmingly with Nelson, while members of Albuquerque-transplant indie band Jenny Invert filled things out capably on guitar, bass, and drums. The folks behind the Neumos sound mix that night earned major brownie points for putting Nelson’s vocals up front enough to be clearly discerned: You don’t often hear a club crowd savoring clever lyrics to unfamiliar songs with gusts of appreciative laughter.
Hilarious between-song banter flew pretty freely last Wednesday (someone needs to give this guy his own talk show, quick), but Nelson also knew when to ease off on the snarky wit for the sake of the songs. He crooned the hopeful “Born Without a Heart” with angelic sweetness, and captured the verbal corrosiveness beneath the wry words and bouncing Partridge Family keyboards of “The Price of Doing Business.” Fans of Nelson’s old band also received a choice gift–a cover of one of Harvey Danger’s best latter-day songs, “Moral Centralia” — during the encore. All told, it was great to see the Seattle-based bastard son of Harry Nilsson and Robin Zander back at center stage again.
Opener Whitney Lyman seemed extremely nervous through much of her set, but she needn’t have been. She provided a slew of riches during her time onstage — gorgeous songs that combined the rhythmic adventure of her band Pollens with shoegazing languidness, an airily beautiful singing voice, and a game group of backing musicians behind her. A few more gigs at center stage, and she should be ready for world conquest. Jenny Invert followed Lyman and preceded their stint as the headliner’s backup band with a blast of confident, varied indie rock. Guitarist Sam Williams’ deep vocals felt flatter and less nuanced live than they do on record, but his energy as a frontman — and his great, drama-drenched rock songs — compensated nicely.
