The house lights darkened, the crowd hushed and the band climbed down the stairs onto the stage. The venue was almost pitch dark. The only lights illuminating their path were small LED lights set into plastic rings that the band members wore on all of their fingers, which in turn allowed them to see what they were playing. Each of the band members took their place, and Patrick Watson began to play "Lighthouse." The piano melody is melancholy and sounds like one of Erik Satie's gnossienne compositions, his left hand keeping a 3/4 beat while the right hand plays a series of trickling notes over the top. When Watson's almost whispered tenor breaks in, the crowd is moved into complete silence and stillness. Not a foot shuffled nor a PBR was swilled for a solid two minutes as the song shifted and swayed in waltz time, changing tempos and keys and building towards an apex. Watson's falsetto swooned and dropped, holding us rapt with its effortless beauty. As the band crashed in, dozens of clear incandescent bulbs burst into temporary brightness, sending our darkness-adjusted pupils into rapid contraction and electrifying the room.

Those scattered bulbs would pulse into brightness and fade into dimness throughout the show, sometimes flashing in beat with the song and other times finding their own rhythm. Most independent bands have either no money for or no interest in light shows, but the effective use of light and dark made this particular performance infinitely more engaging, even if it was just a few dozen lightbulbs and some stretched cheesecloth with colored light projected onto it. Note to other bands: a little goes a long way. Each of the musicians is accomplished individually: Watson played piano and sang with poise and abandon, the guitarist changed styles and picking methods throughout (his hybrid picking was incredible!), the bass player added texture with gorgeous high-necked chords, the violinist doubled melodies and sang backup and the drummer sang, clanged and played a musical saw (no kidding, this was outstanding). Though there was an obvious wealth of talent on the stage, the compositions never felt crowded or showy. The group of them played with obvious joy, breaking into grins and glancing at each other, confirming by a cross-stage look that the music sounded as good as they thought. At one point, the entire band unplugged and came down into the center of the audience where they performed the gorgeous folk ballad "Into Giants" and one by one trekked back to the stage to finish it off. On "Big Bird in a Small Cage", Watson conducted the crowd with a sing-along chorus that erupted stunningly from the eager audience, surprising even the band with it's fervor.


As an encore, Watson entertained a number of shouted requests and even played one (Beijing). He finished the set by himself, playing The Great Escape until the house lights brightened and people started to scatter.

I've seen lots of excellent music at many excellent venues in Seattle this year, but this may have been my favorite show so far. Below is a video of a live performance of "Lighthouse", the song that opened their set. Yes, the venue is completely dark for the first three minutes. Yes, that is the drummer bowing a saw at 2:06. Yes, you should watch the whole goddamn thing.