LIVE JOURNAL 12/2/21: Haley Johnsen, OK Sweetheart & La Fonda @ Nectar Lounge

I don’t often go to shows with other people, and that’s wrapped up in my own tendencies about consuming and processing music, but it’s always nice to have someone else to share it with. I’m fortunate to have moved into a house with a bunch of people who care a great deal about local music, and it was on their suggestion I check out this set at the Nectar, which was yet another venue I hadn’t frequented in literal years.

To me, the Nectar’s notable for its lighting and its size, and for the fact that it hosts a rather eclectic range of artists. Though the bands playing that night were linked mostly by mood – specifically a certain joviality – each were unique, as I’ll get into in a second. But they all stunned in their own right, it helped that I had somebody I could reliably turn to and say, “That was incredible,” and they’d get it because they were there too, taking in the magic. Music, occasionally, is as much about the people you share it with as the journey you take yourself. It’s something I’m still learning even now, and I’m grateful for the lesson.

I was gonna write more, but fuck the intro! Intros are stupid and boring and SEO-unfriendly! Here’s what I saw.

All thoughts are mine; all experiences are mine. If you don’t like it, you can go [do a hundred jumping jacks, it’s not that hard.]

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LA FONDA

I’ve had acquaintances sing this band’s praises to me on multiple occasions, and so this was the act I had the most initial interest in catching. La Fonda are a collective (on this specific stage, five people) headed Veronica and Valerie Topacio, sisters four years apart who auspiciously connected sometime around the middle the last decade to try their hands at music. They’re hard to pin down stylistically, but the songs they play come from a source that’s immediately familiar. They’re upbeat, gentle, generous, lighter than air.

The band was obviously a well-oiled machine, churning out one dance-ready number after another like professionals, but two specific things struck me about them. The first was the specific harmonies shared between the Topacio sisters, one of whom (Veronica) having taken the lead reins wielding just a microphone. Pentatonic harmonies are difficult on their own, but given enough time they’re easy to come by on the fly. These harmonies were stranger, knottier. Have you ever listened to “The Sound of Silence” and noticed the odd amount of tonal distance between Simon and Garfunkel’s vocal notes? Maybe there’s a name for that, but I’m a little rusty on music theory. All I could hear was the way Valerie’s voice would consistently remain low like an anchor for Veronica’s higher register to pull upward and form a captivating dynamic.

The other, of course, was the stream of communal energy the band exuded. From the very first moments they kicked off, Veronica was cajoling the audience into participating, buying too many drinks for a Thursday night and letting it all go in the rhythm. They gamely complied, turning the space into an impromptu dance floor that the chilly outside air helped cool off. It all built to a stellar closing number, which paid off a slow crescendo, moody chords and cuttingly specific lyrics with a Funeral-like catharsis that set the place ablaze. For this show, La Fonda were perfect openers, summoning a vital injection of enthusiasm from the audience that set an ideal stage for the rest of the lineup.

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OK SWEETHEART

OK Sweetheart has seen many iterations since Erin Austin formed the act in Central New York back in 2008, but she’s remained its ever-present constant. Standing on this particular stage, on this particular night, the act was just a duo – her, clad in an all-white jumpsuit with a shiny gold zipper, and fellow guitarist/keyboardist Matt Townsley providing the sole instrumental accompaniment.

Following a full rollicking band with a drumless pair bearing but a single instrument made for a potentially dire situation. The crowd faced a loud background during their initial revelries and thus refused to turn down the volume for Austin’s comparatively low-key set. It made for an uncomfortable scenario not unlike being back in a rowdy high school class again, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the duo.

Austin, for her part, did what she could with the circumstances she was given, coming across as a consummate professional. Her voice felt like a cross between Feist’s and tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus’: passionate and elastic with an ability to hit full-throated notes perfectly. She bookended the set with covers, opening with Willie Nelson’s ode to camaraderie “On The Road Again” and closing with a genial rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that was neither schmaltzy nor cloying, the way holiday covers commonly threaten to be.

In between, she took the opportunity to play some tunes off of Some Space, a record she released in 2019 right before the pandemic swept in to stymie her plans. Her songs were consistently warm, soulful and comforting, and Austin radiated a bubbly graciousness just for the opportunity to sing them. It may have been a tough crowd that night, but I came away with an appreciation for their perseverance and for the sheer talent they displayed on stage.

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HALEY JOHNSEN

Full disclosure: I got to spend a little more time with Haley Johnsen than the rest of the acts that night, because the housemates that invited me to the show had also arranged for her to crash at our place that night. The Portland-based singer, who also plays in Big Wild as a bassist, had come up to Seattle with a full band (and Big Wild’s sound guy, Otto) to play this specific show. She and that housemate had a history playing together, helping each other fine-tune their songs at places like the Oregon Music Fest, and so it was apparently a huge change for her to see her longtime friend standing on stage with full accompaniment, helping to flesh out her country-tinged songs.

To me, however, this was just someone with an airtight visage of professionalism, someone who looked like they knew exactly what they wanted to do and how to accomplish it. If I had gone to this show on my own, I would have still walked away thinking this was an INCREDIBLE set, and I don’t use those caps lightly. It was just one of those nights where everything fell in sync. Johnsen’s employment of in-ear monitors (a first for her) lent her voice that much more nuance, allowing her to control the volume and tone of her powerhouse voice to a greater degree. Each aspect of the band filled in her songs perfectly, whether it was the deftness of the rhythm section or Kelsey Anne Samsel’s supporting harmonies. Thanks to Otto’s working of the sliders, the sound in the room felt studio-quality.

Then, of course, there were the songs themselves. Among my favorites, which I find myself replaying as I write this via the voice memo I hastily administered minutes after the set started, was some of her newest material: the blissfully melancholy “Goner,” the slow, swaying “Timeless,” and the nervy, umbral “Keep It Together,” all of which sounded even better during this set than on record, which never happens. But then the whole setlist committed to an expansive range, with upbeat, rocking openers diving into a muted middle part and finally ascending into a series of energetic hits. Wedged inside lay an affecting cover of Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” on which Erin Austin returned to the stage to deliver fittingly purgative vocals.

One of my other housemates who attended the show said it best: Johnsen’s set made him forget he was watching a show at the Nectar. Johnsen’s already a gifted musician at baseline, but rarely does everything come together as auspiciously during a live performance as it did here. I came away wondering how much time would realistically have to pass before she’d be opening for someone like Brandi Carlisle. She was just that good.