My goal is to see one show per week. Yes, I might be that annoying friend that just has to tell you about the thing you missed, but I’m also catching every great show in the city of Chicago–with plenty more ahead of me. Welcome to the Chicago Concert Dispatch.
At the time of this show, it is 19 weeks into the year and I have seen 89 shows.
“We are Black Belt Eagle Scout from Portland, Oregon on tour with Julia Jacklin. I want to acknowledge the original people of this land–the Peoria, Potawatomi and Miami. You may know this as Chicago, but these are the original people who we have to respect and continue to respect.”
Katherine Paul let that sit for a minute, looking out on the audience. Then, she cut the tension with a slight smile as she began playing “Just Lie Down.” She had a tight band that played with intention. The bass player felt the music with her whole being. Whether it be a wag of her head, a shrug of her shoulders, a bounce from the knees, or a hitch step, you could see the music as you watched her. Paul’s killer guitar solo during “Soft Stud” got her moving a bit, letting her hair fly. The audience buzzed with appreciation.
Black Belt Eagle Scout’s music was soft and subtle for the most part, so it was exciting when they let loose. Before playing “Indians Never Die,” Paul told us that the song means a lot of things to her. In short, it holds a “fuck the colonizers” sentiment, but it’s more complex than that. It explores her experience being a young indigenous person. Paul told us there was a moment when she realized that some people care, but a lot of people don’t care at all. Paul wants us to have an awareness about this land we are on, that we should “be respectful of where you step and how you navigate life.”
The music made use of dynamics to form waves of emotion. The haunting wordless sung melody that led into the refrain of “wasting, wasting, wasting, away” really struck me. That moment of heightened tension was followed by a cathartic release, a heavy screeching jam in “Loss & Relax.”
Julia Jacklin began her set with the lyrically chilling “Body:”
“Right there on the Sydney tarmac, I threw my luggage down. I said, ‘I’m gonna leave you, I’m not a good woman when you’re around.”
Many of her songs paint real-life situations with that kind of vivid specificity: “I was sitting in my Corolla talking to you while my friends drank inside, There was a silence, weak telephone reception, Doesn’t compliment a dark state of mind” (When The Family Flies In). But then, she’ll cut to the heart of her feelings with a poet’s clarity: “I don’t want to be touched all of the time, I raised my body up to be mine” (Head Alone). “You can’t be the one to hold him, when you were the one who left” (Comfort).
My favorite moments of the show were when she took this crux of the song and repeated it until it became meditative: “I’ll open up the door and try to love again soon, try to love again soon, try to love again soon…” (Pressure to Party). I could name a line that cut me to the core from every song in the set. It was the perfect recipe for the audience to connect to her music.
As I watched the band, I could tell they were connecting with Jacklin’s music, too. The bass player would turn his head and make a stink face; the guitar was quick to smile and had moves that felt like flourishes; the drummer had precision and extreme intensity. In fact, it was hard to take my eyes off of him. He held such tension I couldn’t wait to see him use his full power. Julia, by contrast, was gentle. Singing with that clear yet husky tone that gave me chills. She made use of vocal runs and jumps that brought out a folk influence in her sound. She used the full power of her voice sparingly, which was very effective.
Jacklin took a solo song to introduce us to her brand new guitar. However weird it must be to play a new guitar for the first time, her performance of “Don’t Let the Kids Win” brought tears to my eyes. When the whole band kicked joined back in for “You Were Right,” it felt like I was being bowled over. The drummer finally let loose! The rest of the set rolled along with this new power and proved that Julia Jacklin is both a poet and a rocker.
Black Belt Eagle Scout Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Julia Jacklin Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
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