Jack Garratt - Aero Flynn -- DC9 - May 29 2015

Aero Flynn - This trio is led by Josh Scott, whose Wisconsin music roots connect with a lot of familiar names, which I will leave to you to research. The here and now is Scott on guitar, vocals, and a touch of keyboards touring with a drummer and bassist who adds backing vocals. They create a lovely atmosphere of carefully maintained pastoral backing that is occasionally shaken up with some electronics or drum hits. It is flowing well and then in the fourth song, he cuts into this crazy loud psychedelic guitar solo which is jarring fun. It reminds me of an old folk album by Beau that breezes along until he feels like plugging in. The vocals are assured and hold it together well. This was a fine little set and quite a needed bring down for me after the excitement of the previous night.

Jack Garratt - I am always a bit skeptical of one-man bands, but this British musician plays a whole lot of guitar and some keyboards in addition to his lighter backing parts. He sings throughout in a Northern soul fashion much of the time with the music varying quite a bit around various forms of electronic dance and R&B forms. As the set went on he cut into a strong guitar and voice electric folk styled song that was quite nice and right in my wheelhouse. He followed that with a keyboard and vocal song that reminded me of Antony and the Johnsons with his extended vocal range. I was not dazzled by the overall style here, but the variety was good and his personality was excellent as he worked with the audience, getting them off to a fun start to their Friday night.

Quote of the Night: from Jack Garratt mentioning some of the sites he had seen in the neighborhood (and I'll let you guess where he went)... "I thought it was very good! We don't have chili back in England."