Tag: Indie folk

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Amy Millan [2025]

Amy Millan at Club Saw, Ottawa – October 17 2025

Artist: Amy Millan
When: October 17th, 2025
Where: Club Saw, Ottawa
Context: I’ve seen Stars live five times and Broken Social Scene twice* but it had been quite a while since I’d seen either one. However, this wasn’t the reason why I really wanted to see Amy Millan, even though I do often lean towards the songs she sings with Stars. I had never seen her play live solo, just never got the chance, even though I had enjoyed her two previously released solo albums. Before buying the ticket, I had only given her newest album, “I went to find you”, a cursory listen, only becoming much more familiar with it in the week leading up to the show. Having said all this, I still found myself surprised at how much I enjoyed Amy Millan’s performance. Her extremely talented backing band included Christine Bougie** (guitar and lap steel), Stefan Schneider*** (drums), as well as fellow Stars members Chris McCarron (guitar) and her partner Evan Cranley (trombone and percussion), and she brought her friend Jenny Whiteley up onstage mid-set to duet on “Baby I”****. But it was Millan herself who lit up the stage, not only with the lovely, lilting, and soft touch on vocals that we’ve come to know and love, but with her in-between song banter, proving herself to be humble and hilarious and human. It was such that she could have played anything and we would have been with her the whole way. But she pleased Stars fans with a couple of their tunes, including a lovely solo performance of “Ageless beauty”, a personal fave, and with the exception of a Weeping Tile/Sarah Harmer cover, the rest of her set was solo material, mostly from that new album, performed so beautifully that it has infinitely risen in my esteem.
Point of reference song: “The overpass”

Amy Millan close up and personal
Chris McCarron and his headband on guitar
Stefan Schneider on drums
Evan Cranley with his trombone
Christine Bougie rocking the guitar
Amy dueting with Jenny Whiteley
Evan on the percussion 
Chris McCarron and his game face
Amy and Stefan
Rocking out

*Both times with Amy Millan

**Has performed with Shania Twain and Bahamas.

***Has performed with Owen Pallett, Belle Orchestre, among others.

****A song Whiteley had written and Millan had covered on her first solo album, “Honey from the tombs”.

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Tunes

100 best covers: #34 First Aid Kit “America”

<< #35    |    #33 >>

I’ve written a few words on these pages already about First Aid Kit, the indie folk duo of Swedish sisters, Johanna and Klara Söderberg. I got into them shortly after the release of their second album, 2012’s “The lion’s roar”*, loving their stripped back sound and vocal harmonies, reminiscent of the folk music my parents had me listening to in childhood. I followed the duo very closely for next few years and one of the many things I noted about them was how active they were in posting cover songs they performed on YouTube. They really seemed to love putting their own spin on tracks that inspired them. In fact, it was their take on Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger mountain peasant song” that first got them international notice in the first place back in 2008. Over years they’ve posted covers of well known songs by Kate Bush, Kenny Rogers, The Kinks, Bob Dylan, and Black Sabbath**, and they even recorded a whole album of covers in tribute to their hero Leonard Cohen.

It completely makes sense then that First Aid Kit would eventually get around to a song by Simon and Garfunkel, another notable folk duo known for their harmonies. Given their penchant for reworking famous tracks, though, it’s interesting that they chose “America”, a song that was originally released as a b-side to single, “For Emily, whenever I may find her”. It was, of course, re-released as the A-side a few months later, perhaps the theme of young lovers hitchhiking across America resonated with their fans. The original was later introduced to whole new generation of fans when Cameron Crowe famously used it in his film “Almost famous”. Word has it that the Söderberg sisters first performed “America” at a ceremony honouring Paul Simon in 2012 and at the end, he gave them a standing ovation. So it shouldn’t have caused any surprise when they recorded a version and released it shortly after their third album, the magnificent “Stay gold”.

The original recording by Simon and Garfunkel starts with harmonized humming over acoustic strumming and the odd flourish and rim shot. Paul Simon is on lead and Art Garfunkel joins in halfway through, creating the harmonies that they are so known for doing. The song builds slowly so that by the end it almost feels symphonic, complete with crashing cymbals and a harpsichord outro. First Aid Kit’s cover is similar in structure but the harmonies are there, right from the beginning, and the sisters trade lines throughout. And this version feels a lot more melancholic in mood, even when it builds towards a climax just like the original. It’s like Johanna and Klara are looking back sadly rather than fondly, as Paul and Art were doing, more regret for what was missed than joy for what was experienced.

I love both versions and sentiments, appreciating both sides of the same story. However, I feel like edge belongs to Simon and Garfunkel on this one.

Cover:

Original:

*”Emmylou” from that album appeared at number three on my Best tunes of 2012 list.

**Their cover of “War pigs” is dynamite and probably belongs on this list of great covers as well.

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2003: #11 The Decemberists “Los Angeles, I’m yours”

<< #12    |    #10 >>

I’ve spilled plenty of virtual ink already on the Portland, Oregon based indie-folk quintet led by Colin Meloy. However, the band keeps coming up on these lists of mine because I love them so much, so I might as well spill a little bit more.

“Los Angeles, I’m yours” is a track off The Decemberists’ second album, “Her majesty The Decemberists”. As I’ve already shared, I first heard this album, along with the debut, a year after its release and promptly fell for the literate tales* that frontman Colin Meloy spins into his globalized and folkloric indie rock. Apparently, he wrote this track after his band’s first visit to the great metropolis on the west coast and found that he hated it. The song is a hilarious number where he pokes fun at its denizens and their collective fashion sense**, the sights and the smells, and likens the entirety of it all to vomit from the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s streets and boulevards
Orphans and oligarchs are here
A plaintive melody
Truncated symphony
An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore”

In true Decemberists fashion, though, the song is not a straight-ahead diss track. The music tells a completely different story, giving the feel of an answer to Sinatra’s “New York, New York”. The melody is at times joyful and wistful but always upbeat. There’s an aggressive strum on the acoustic that sets the mark and the tone. There’s strings. There’s a harmonica. You can almost hear birds chirping at one point… but maybe that would be too much.

As a post script to this entire thing, it’s worth noting Meloy’s story about the first time The Decemberists played this song live in LA after it was released into the world. He had been half expecting to be pelted by tomatoes by the crowd. Instead, the crowd all happily sang along, loudly and proudly, and this changed Mr. Meloy’s mind about the city and its people.

Happy endings all around.

*It was no big surprise to me when Meloy started publishing works of fiction, all of which are great. I just finished “The stars did wander darkling”.

**The women with their underwear straps showing about the waist of their pants and the men with their pants hanging off of them, well below their bottoms.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2003 list, click here.