Tim Kasher has one of those voices. It’s that voice that is smooth enough to sing you to sleep at night but, at the same time, has enough power to hit you like a punch in the face. It’s nothing short of beautiful and, when mixed with his genius lyrics, you get something the resembles perfection.
Tim has a couple of projects and has collaborated with far too many people to mention but, out of everything he has done, The Good Life has to be my favorite. Having the chance to see them on a day where everything just feels weird was just what I needed. Seeing Tim take the stage and hearing “Not my president!” come out of his mouth right before the band started the first song, well, everything felt better.
The Good Life’s music is that Midwest indie rock sound with heartfelt lyrics that makes that homesick feeling in my gut go away. It’s music that, regardless of how numb you are, it can easily make you feel something… anything. It’s beauty and power all wrapped up in with a bow of emotion and, when you open it, or see it live, it’s something that can not be ignored.
The band’s relaxed demeanor seemed to match the calming images of blobs of color that floated around the stage both on the members and the white sheet that was hanging on the wall behind the stage. If you took Tim out of the equation, you would be left with a very calming, soothing, almost zen like atmosphere. With Tim on the stage, you get this almost confused mix of calm and soothing with freakishly intense and emotional. Even with the two extremes, they somehow balance each other out with, what seems to be, little to no effort.
One of the openers for The Good Life last night was Jake Bellows, the singer of Neva Dinova (R.I.P), who had sworn off music for good… or so he said. Jake seemed awkward and nervous as he tried to figure out what song to play next. He didn’t have a planned set list and was more just playing requests (which a couple members of the modest crowd seemed to have many of). Jake stumbled through a couple of songs asking the crowd how it started or limping to the end of the song just to be done with it. As I write this, I realize it sounds like this set was a disaster but, honestly, it was the complete opposite.
Even with the unorganized and imperfect set, Jake was charming and captivating. He sang with feeling and, even though he seemed to stare off into space while playing his songs, you still felt something coming from the stage. It was unlike anything I had ever seen and unlike anything I have ever had to try and describe.
Oquoa (from Omaha, NE) and Our Fox (also from Omaha, NE) both opened up the show with calming sets that were the perfect start to the evening. Although their sets seemed to be mostly talked through by the crowd that was trickling in, they still got the applause they deserved and I think they both gained some new fans even if they didn’t seem to be the center of attention.