Jeremy Messersmith

Satellite - July 19, 2011

Live Review by Amber Henson

“I try to keep my sort-of promises” is what Jeremy Messersmith told me when I said how exciting it was that he’d brought a band on tour all the way out here in California, just like he said he might several years ago.  As great as Messersmith is on his own, it’s fun to see him with a few other guys, filling out the tracks, and making them sound closer to what you hear on the albums.

His fellow bandmates for this trip were Peter Sieve on guitar, Alex Young on drums and Ben Rosenbush on the keyboard and cello. Messersmith himself stuck to the bass and the acoustic guitar.  It was a woefully short set at half an hour, and early to boot (9pm).  This left time for only nine tracks: seven from the most recent album (The Reluctant Graveyard), “Novocain” from his first record, a cover Magnetic Fields' “Epitaph for My Heart,” and fan favorite “Tatooine” to finish the night.

Messersmith is at his most transfixing when he sings in that quiet voice he occasionally employs, like when he sang “A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard,” which he started on his own, before the cello and Sieve with background vocals joined in.  Usually during quiet songs, you can hear the rabblerousing of the bar just under the music, but everyone, thankfully, was silent and attentive.

 
Right before the last song, Messersmith told a short story, which he finished by asking "Why can’t we write songs for both nerds and girls?" - which, of course, is what "Tatooine" is. He takes a super geeky subject, and uses it to create a heartbreaking song with the lyrics, “Solos are fine but duets are romantic. A pair is grand but a trio'd be disastrous.” In this case, a foursome - Messersmith and his three bandmates - is also more than acceptable.