Line-up

Headliner
Vetiver Last time in SF Bay Area: 2 months ago

Venue

University of California Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive, 94720, Berkeley, CA, US

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/summer-concerts-2018

Capacity: 200

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Vetiver biography

Vetiver (formed in 2002) is an American indie-folk and freak folk band led by the more than capable singer-songwriter Andy Cabic, hailing from San Francisco, California, U.S.

Prior to the birth of Vetiver, Andy Cabic had been gained a wealth of experience playing with the eclectic D.I.Y shoegaze band the Raymond Brake’s. Influenced by the likes of Sonic Youth, the South Carolina-based band landed into the burgeoning art-punk scene of Chapel Hill and subsequently signed with the independent label Simple Machines. The Raymond Brake’s noisy debut album, “Piles of Dirty Winters”, arrived in 1995 and was followed by “Never Ever Work” in 1996 and a series of well-received EPs.

Following the breakup of the group, Cabic headed West, specifically San Francisco, and began studying at the San Francisco Art Institute. It was there Cabic met the refined and talented musician Devendra Banhart, and began playing shows together with a host of other musicians including Joanna Newsom. With his creative juices in full flow, Cabic began inking songs for his new project Vetiver, accompanied by Banhart, Jim Gaylord on violin, and Alissa Anderson on cello. Combining to create an eclectic mix of instruments and influences, Vetiver released their eponymous debut full-length in 2004.

Following a collection of live tracks, rarities and unreleased songs entitled “Between”, Vetiver issued their sophomore album “To Find Me Gone” in 2006. The record was marked by the arrival of drummer Otto Hauser and bassist Kevin Barker, and supported by opening for Banhart and Newsom on their respective tours. Cabic and Banhart established their own label, Gnomonsong Recordings, around this time, noted for its releasing and promotion of Jana Hunter’s lo-fi output.

The full-length cover album “Thing of the Past” appeared in 2008 on Gnomonsong and FatCat, allowing Cabic freedom to experiment with the songs’ structures and delivery. Following a move to the revered independents Sub Pop and Bella Union, Vetiver issued their third official studio album “Tight Knit” in 2009. The record earned strong reviews from the critical press and was toured extensively in support and promotion of. In 2011 the band released their fourth full-length “The Errant Charm”, after which Cabic contributed the song “Go Easy” to the tribute compilation “Johnny Boy Would Love This… A Tribute to John Martyn”. After a notable absence of new music releases, Vetiver returned in March 2015 to release the LP “Complete Strangers” on Easy Sound Records.

Live reviews

There’s been a slew of unfortunate genre tags that seem to have been thrown around as if fashionable over the course of the past decade or so; the NME were responsible for some of them, including nu-rave to describe the scene that involved the likes of Klaxons and nu-folk as an all-encompassing term for the likes of Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling. Perhaps the worst of them all, though, was ‘freak folk’, which seemed to stick to the likes of Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Antony and the Johnsons on the basis of little more than the fact that their sound leant towards folk and that they were also mildly eccentric. Whilst it’s probably fair to consider them as having been on the fringes of any scene that they might have been associated with, Vetiver were also such a proposition - a modern band, signed to Sub Pop, who offered up a slightly unusual take on a traditional folk sound. It’s been enough to carve them out a cult fanbase, though, especially through the energetic shows they’ve played in support of the likes of The Shins and Fruit Bats over the years; you can check them out for yourself when they line up dates in support of the follow-up to 2011’s The Errant Charm.

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