I’ve said it so many times before, I’m running of ways to explain Dana Falconberry’s transcendent shows. Saturday night at the Cactus Cafe yielded yet another phenomenal performance from this experimental folk act. Falconberry’s voice is other-worldly and distinct yet gorgeous. Gina Dvorak and Karla Manzur work with Falconberry to achieve beautiful harmonies. Each member of the band provides their own individual flair that works to accomplish a full yet restrained mix of banjo, keys, guitars, and perfect percussion. Matthew Shepherd’s percussive talent is uncanny. A few times, he lets loose and embraces a full kit drum part, but more often he’s simply providing exactly what the song needs, which may be one shake of a shaker or single clatter of a cluster of dried seed pods. Beyond the impeccable instrumentation, Falconberry’s hauntingly visual songwriting evokes naturalistic imagery clearer and brighter than our own dreams or memories.
I have communicated her greatness through metaphors, in descriptive writing, and I’ve asked her to share her own ideas in interviews. I know nothing else to do other than state the actuality flatly: Dana Falconberry and her band are Austin’s best band. I could qualify this in a million ways, and of course, there are bands that may do certain things better than anyone else or express elements Falconberry’s music simply does not concern. But all things considered, I continually return to the sentiment that Dana Falconberry is Austin’s best band. Right now, their mesmerizing live show is capable of quieting a crowd. At song’s ends one can hear collective exhalation of a crowd of people holding their breath. Saturday’s set consisted of songs both released and unreleased and the audience had the special treat of one of Falconberry’s former college professors and previous musical collaborators join the group onstage for three songs.
Only the singular and slight problem of notoriety prevents the band’s wild success. I’m not sure whey the public so loves hearing artists they already know, why they warmly welcome the familiar and seem to have no time to stop and listen to something wholly new and wonderful. But slowly Dana’s notoriety is changing. With a recent ACL and Fun Fun Fun Fest appearance and an increasing number of shows, more and more have experienced the greatness of a Dana Falconberry performance. The band already has the talent to wow a crowd the size of Bass Concert Hall. I believe that one day they will do just that.
Earlier in the evening, Adam Torres lured the crowd into a trance as he performed his high and haunting songs that translate like a wolf on some lonesome West Texas plain howling at a low-lying moon. For musical points of reference, imagine the clear falsetto of Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg delivering the subtly shifting melodies of Damien Jurado. Torres has incredible talent and plays at a holistic aesthetic and style underexplored in both folk and popular music.
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