A Mighty Wind

Tamara Lindeman, singer-songwriter of The Weather Station, has embarked on a series of duets with other singers. Friday night, they gathered at The Dakota Tavern for an intimate concert. Lindeman's own songs tend to be soft, introspective number. She started solo on her first tune, singing and playing her guitar quietly over the din. Amazingly, the crowd quieted down. Unlike most bar shows, there were no background chatter, and not even the clinking of pint glasses being cleared, during the two half-hour sets.

Her first duet, with Simone Schmidt (One Hundred Dollar) was thematically a propos. If You Sing With Me was a sweet song about two singers finding joy in performing together. Next was Misha Bower, with a Kate Bush-esque heart-broken tune with swooping harmonies (which apparently they couldn't practice over Skype because it mutes the other person, probably because of echo cancellation). And so the evening went, each complex song captured a snapshot in time or even a life (Matt Cully's Brothers and Sisters).

But it wasn't just duets. Lindeman was joined by Felicity Williams and Carleigh Aikins on a folkoric tune of 3-part harmonies and lyrical exchanges pondering the passage of time. There were also spontaneous last-minute additions. Before his own turn, Afie Jurvanen came on early to provide guitar backing for Williams and Aikens on their own duet. Ian Kehoe stuck around to play bass for Linderman and Ryan Driver. With most songs being on the downer side, she ended the evening with Steve Lambke doing a jazzy cover of If This World Were Mine.

It was a magical evening all about song-craft and music-making, like spending time in the living room of some very talented friends. Before the duets, Linderman read a prepared statement from her phone (she wryly noted she hadn't spoken this long since high school's public speaking). She described the introspective nature of writing songs and yet at the same time, they are performed in public for appreciative fans and indifferent crowd, both of which add their own dimension. She talked about bonding with other musicians in this endeavour, and the resulting impetus; namely, she wanted to spend more time with them, hence the duets. Tonight, a lucky hundred or so were immersed in these collaborations with the live debut of these beautiful songs.