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Cue
[We covered Cue last year; here's a highly updated reprint of that profile.]
Sometimes you champion local bands, loyal to the hilt. And then sometimes you fall in love.
I saw Cue, one of my absolute favorite Austin-based bands and one of the hidden treasures of the scene, play to about 20 people the other night, most of whom were friends or die-hard fans or both. The show was running late, and I think we were all tired, but as soon as they started to play -- with "Bring Back My Love," which features Stacy Meshbane keening a haunting siren's call into the pickups on her violin and then hurtles into a building swirl of resonant melody and counter-rhythms beholden to Morricone -- the energy in the room palpably shifted. Not to sound trite or anything, but it was transformative. No matter the circumstances, Cue delivers at every set I've seen, and I've been to a lot of them in the past few years -- magical house parties, all racuous and all liquored up at the Carousel Lounge, sardine-crush nights at Beerland, and yes, more than a few sparse Wednesdays at Emo's.
The first time I saw Cue, it was at an early show at Beerland on Election Night 2004, before shoving my way through throngs of black-clad hipsters leaving Stubb's after Interpol to catch a late show from Shearwater and Decibully. It was a weird and special night, despite the results of the vote. I was then, and remain extremely impressed by Cue -- a four-piece instrumental rock band that's half chamber ensemble, half swirling guitar rock extravaganza. Unlike a lot of their brethren in the genre that put you to sleep as they bang away on their instruments or bore you to tears with swirling, shimmering songs that go nowhere, Cue's songs are incredibly thoughtful and packed with emotion -- big swooping tone poems that have velocity and heart that are slightly cloaked in shadows. Stacy Meshbane's wicked violin dances ahead of Jason Brister's tricky drumlines and Clarke Dominick's menacing turns on the bass (which he alternates with duties on keys and guitar as well), which in turn pull along the dark, fuzzy guitar from Colin Swietek. Plus, there's often multiple tambourines and specialty percussion in use, including a tiny zylophone -- or is that a tiny glockenspiel? Anyway, the end result is just gorgeous -- buzzy-loud yet dynamic, melancholic yet bittersweet.
I admit that though Cue's 2005 record Bring Back My Love is really wonderful, it just doesn't compare with seeing the band live -- especally in a dank club lit by one red spotlight and a string of Christmas lights garlanded around the kick drum. (And if you ask very nicely, they may pull out their cover of Julee Cruise's "Falling" -- better known as the theme from Twin Peaks -- which is always a pleasure to hear as they stuff it to the gills with a strange and dark joy that was missing from the original version.)
Cue - "The End of the Rule of Nostalgia"
Cue - Thusla Doom
Cue - Bring Back My Love
Cue's official site; there are other tracks available there as well -- including the stellar "The Sun Has Risen Twice Today." You can buy Bring Back My Love directly from the band or at local independent music stores in Austin and at Everyday Music if you're in Seattle.
Shadows tags:cue.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 03.03.06 at 11:44 AM
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