I was fortunate enough recently to see David Bazan play what would be the final show at Seattle’s famous Crocodile Café. He played unaccompanied—jangly Telecaster through a dirty amp, giant voice filling the room. It was a great performance and unlike any of the shows I’d seen during his days fronting Pedro The Lion.
Today’s song of the day comes from a gig he played earlier in the same tour, at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina. Bazan opens the show with a medley that begins with “Harmless Sparks,” a two-minute vignette of a song about a world in which Catholic priests get busy with nuns “instead of breaking little boys’ hearts.” Bazan’s growing agnosticism is showing, as it does in a few of his newer songs.
“Harmless Sparks” gives way to “Fewer Moving Parts”—ostensibly about the dissolution of Pedro The Lion—from his solo release. Bazan has always had a way with language, deftly blurring the line between honesty and irony. When he sings “Don’t think I don’t regret it because I do and I don’t think I’m better off alone,” the pauses in his phrasing alter the meaning of the line back and forth, and he comes across as feeling both remorseful and remorseless at the same time.
And if anyone knows of another song that name checks Bob Costas, I’d love to hear about it.
Download the entire show here (courtesy of David Bazan and the Hard To Find A Friend site).
Talk about connecting with your fans. David Bazan is offering to come play a show at your house. Yep, if you’ve got the space (for 30 to 100 people), he might just book a gig to play in your living room or back yard.
