I was lucky enough to get invited to see Ben Ottewell from Gomez perform on Saturday night at the Bootleg Theater. I had never been to the Bootleg before, and had not heard Ben's solo work. The theater was quite intimate. It's a converted warehouse with outdoor tables and chairs, theater seats and a door leading to the back smoking patio. I have to say that it kinda kicked Hotel Cafe's ass for me, as far as space and comfort. It was almost as if you were in Ben's backyard, watching him sip beer and talk to his friends in the audience. It was a beautiful acoustic set with some haunting tracks that are on his new solo record, Shapes & Shadows. I loved the single "Blackbird." It's a song that should be sung on a southern porch on a hot day, in a Neil Young-Harvest Moon kind of way. All of the songs conjured up this same time of feeling. You can almost feel the breeze in your hair, while you're riding in a convertible on a cross country road trip, and feel the wisps of wheat as you pass down a country road in the midwest. I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with this record and also recommend "No Obstacles" and "Lightbulbs" for your road trip companion mix. You can download "Blackbird" here:
While you're at it, Gomez has a new record coming out this summer called Whatever's On Your Mind. You can download the new single "Options" from that record here:
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