I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2016] Alex G

I hadn’t heard of Alex G before this tour.  He is apparently a prodigy of home recordings, starting his self-released oeuvre when he was 17.  (He’s now 23 and looks to be about 15).

For some reason I’d gotten the impression that he was a shredding guitar god type of prodigy.  But he is not.  He’s more of a pop/experimental/lo-fi song-writing-type prodigy.  He reminded me of Car Seat Headrest both in terms of self released prolific-ness and general style.

He counts Elliott Smith (who I don’t hear) and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill (whom I do hear) as influences. In fact during the set, he stated that Built to Spill was the best band alive today.

His band was a four piece (no idea who is on his records).  He played guitar and sang.  Off to his left was a bassist.  To his right was lead guitarist/backing vocalist.  This guy (no one was named) did some great solos and amazing sounds.  I’m curious to know if all of those details are in the recorded versions as well.  And the drummer was on the right.  He did some cool fills and beats.  I particularly enjoyed the really fast cymbal ringing on “Guilty.”

At first I was a little unimpressed.  The songs are pretty simple and short–lo-fi recordings, which I do enjoy, but were not what I was expecting.  But by the middle, he had won me over.  The last five or six songs in particular were really good.  I enjoyed the unexpected screaming part of “Icehead” which did a great job playing with quiet and loud.

The band was pretty no-nonsense–not a lot of banter.  Just song after song, some really short and few with some good extended jamming.  There was a lighthearted moment where the guitarist sat at the keyboard for “Thorns” and his singing mic kept slipping down.  He was actually singing hunched over on his side (refusing to stop playing the keyboard) until a fan kindly pulled it back up for him for the rest of the song.

Setlist