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Naturally, most of us will attend a show to see the headlining band. We might arrive late on purpose, just to miss the opener who we think we could care less about. I urge you, put a stop to this habit. It seems as if every show I’ve been to this past year has had incredible opening acts. On a few occasions I’ve even been more blown away by the opener. Last year I experienced this with The Low Anthem. The folk-rock ensemble opened for Iron and Wine at the Town Ballroom and their dexterous harmonies had me floating. I left that show and bought up all their albums the next day. I cannot overemphasize it enough, come see them at Babeville tonight. But please, please be on time. That way you wont be deprived of experiencing the sprawling, folkestral arrangements of Other Lives.
Other Lives hail from Stillwater, OK where they recorded their second album Tamer Animals, which was released last May. The five-piece group have toured with the likes of Bon Iver, and will be joining Radiohead on their upcoming tour in March. I had the privilege of chatting with Jonathon Mooney, who plays horns, percussion, piano and strings for the group, via e-mail while they were on the road this week, and he spoke for the group, telling me a bit about their new album, their influences, and playing Coachella this year.
Other Lives started as Kunek when they began by writing instrumental songs in “a tiny house in the middle of the country.” Tracks off the record like “Dust Bowl III” and “Landforms” appear to convey an attachment to images of human desolation in relationship to Oklahoma and its historical embodiment to the concept of the Great American Desert. I asked Mooney about how this imagery weaves its way through their songwriting.
“There's definitely a sense of desolation and open landscape we try to convey in our songs, and it's no coincidence that those two words can be used to describe part of the landscape we grew up around in Oklahoma.”
“On this record we wanted the lyrics to be observational. We wrote about several subjects but if there were an underlying theme it would just be a collection of observations of our surroundings and the history of our relationship with our surroundings. I suppose man v. nature kind of sums it up.”
It is important to note that Other Lives cannot be pigeonholed into the folk envelope. There is a instrumental angle to their music that creates lush, euphonic anthems that you can’t fold laundry to. There is an otherworldly scope to their music that is cinematically landscaped, and this is exhibited in their music video for the track “For 12.” In talking about how they arrived at this sound, Mooney pointed to some of the band's influences.
“We have many influences, but classical music has been the main catalyst in the progression to this last record. Composers like Eno, Phillip Glass, Steve Reich. Their music has had a huge impact on us.”
This is the band’s first trip to Buffalo, so I offered them suggestions on the local bars and told them the best places to get wings. Knowing that they probably don’t see much snow in Oklahoma, I told the group about the recent snowfall and asked if they might be partaking in some wintery activities.
“We're pretty excited for the Buffalo show. The Low Anthem is such a talented band, we're really happy to get to play with them. We didn't bring a whole lot of snow gear but with snow on the ground there's always a chance for a snowball fight to spark.”
Let’s hope said snowball fight goes down.
Last, but definitely not least, I asked them about their upcoming tour with Radiohead and playing festivals, particularly Coachella. Of course they are thrilled to be opening for one of the greatest bands of all time.
“Absolutely, we've all been huge fans of Radiohead ever since The Bends. I mean, I'd venture to say it's rare to meet a band that hasn't been influenced by them. They're influence casts a very big shadow. We couldn't be happier to be opening for them. We're also really excited for Coachella. The lineup is pretty unreal.”
So now that you’re on par with Other Lives please check them out when they open for The Low Anthem tonight at Babeville. If you’re still not convinced, I’m sure the impromptu video bellow will do the trick. Note how incredible they sound, even unplugged.
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