Oregon Music News

Pianist and songwriter Bryan Free played to a rapt Mississippi Studios audience December 16th. The crowd gathered around the ground level, lamp-lit piano to hear Free play his new album, OK, start-to-finish. It was a performance that perfectly captured the intimate vibe of this latest work, which was recorded solo and live in the lobby of the office space where he works.

Free joked his way through the set, poking fun at his often melancholy songs.  It was personal in a way that so few concerts are.  His proximity to the crowd, and his playful, frank, and self-deprecating humor, gave the set a VH1 Storytellers feel.

His newest batch of material has a sense of longing and loss, the feel of a letter written to a distant love that you know you’ll never send. Free spoke about the experience of sorting through a deceased friend’s belongings, a life cut short in 2001, on “My Secret Life.”  He mused over title track “OK”, a song about cutting his long-grown locks and the accompanying sense of changing an identity and worldview.  He even revealed his love for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, a series which influenced the song “Mirror.”  For a glimpse of this emotive and personal performance listen to standout track “The End”

Bryan Free’s performance was as technically impressive as it was touching.  His piano playing perfectly compliments his voice, and on occasion overshadows it.  ”Gold Road Mines” was moving both for its affecting vocal work and the kind of sophisticated piano playing that you don’t expect from a pop song.  He even quoted Chopin’s “Raindrop” Prelude on closing number “When I Wake Up.”

Free opened for the equally impressive Y La Bamba.  Fronted by songwriter and guitarist Luz Elena, the band captivated, mixing the neo-folk of Devendra Banhart with three-part Fleet Foxes harmony.  Elena strummed classical guitar, occasionally singing in Spanish, backed by Gypsy percussion, accordion, and Portland’s own Ben Meyercord.

The set echoed the somber folk of Andrew Bird, Regina Spektor, and DeVotchKa .  There was something sweet, yet unsettling, about hearing a strong, throaty female voice backed by falsetto male vocals.  But the band showed guts too, playing a song that they’d heard for the first time during sound check. Y La Bamba is a band to keep your eye on this year, so be sure to check out their upcoming show at The Woods with The Robinsons (Viva Voce’s alter ego) Saturday January 16th.