On Tuesday I saw Ian Bjornstad play his third show, shortly after the American League won the All-Star game just a matter of a few blocks from the Hotel Utah. Ian’s perhaps best known as the keyboard player for one John Vanderslice.

I got there a little bit before Ian went on and hung out with JV for a bit. Ian’s band on and it’s set up was Ian on guitar and piano, Dave Douglas (JV’s drummer, occasionally keyboardist) on keys (moog source, AD202), Zack from the Botticellis on drums, a guy named Howie on bass and a girl possibly named Anne Marie on backup vocals.

The band’s set was good. It was still a bit rough, but Ian definitely shows some promise as a songwriter. He started out on piano with a long, melancholy piano waltz. Later he was on guitar, also leaning toward songs in three (3/4 and 6/8), towards a somewhat folky sound. Someone described the sounds to be sort of like those Elliott Smith honky tonk waltzes and I wouldn’t completely disagree with that.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 6:53 pm Posted by adrian in SF bay area, live review. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.