Damien Jurado played a nearly sold out show at Portland’s Revolution Hall on Friday, April 5th, an intimate venue in the former Washington High School auditorium, a unique music venue with excellent sound. The show was the first on his spring tour in support of his new album In the Shape of a Storm. The singer/songwriter came on stage to shouts and one person yelling “get some!” Now if you should know anything about Damien it should be this: he is not the type of musician that is going to “get some.” He responded with a confused look, laughed, and said, “I think you’re at the wrong show.” This very humble reaction set the tone for what would be a quiet and intimate evening with plenty of banter from the musician to his audience. He spent the next few minutes tuning his guitar, tension building.
Damien Jurado’s music is quiet, strong, sad, and beautiful. His classical guitar playing is a sort of elliptical strumming with some playful finger picking and never a guitar pick, resulting in a soft, melodic, and sometimes powerful sound. He tends to play gently and build to a shockingly powerful crescendo. He started the evening with the song “Lincoln”, a poetic story that speaks of visions, shipwrecks, and mystery. Next we were treated to “South”, a fictional tale with a hard to decipher meaning, the kind of song that reminds you that sometimes beauty can only be seen and not understood, and if it could be understood its beauty would be lost. Later we heard the title track off the new album, “In The Shape of a Storm” the first true highlight of the show this song was romantic, sad, bright, and deep, and it makes the upcoming album very exciting. Damien sings, “If I go sailing into the unknown what are the chances I ever find your shore? If I go sailing into the unknown into the deep I am thrown.” These words evoke a sort of longing and a relatable sense of both fear and urgency. Somewhere along the way Damien told us a story about the first time he heard of someone taking a “selfie” something that seems so innocuous now but at the time, to him, seemed like an almost perverted sexual act, a sort of gift that he gave the audience who will now forever relate the term selfie to a possibly public inappropriate solo act, and the joyous idea of someone asking him if he would like to take a selfie with them and the confusion that followed. The show ended with “Kola”, an appropriate ending with Damien singing, “I will remember you the way you are right now.”
Near the middle of the show Damien talked about his friend, Richard Swift, who passed away last year, and played us a song he wrote in his honor after telling us about some of the ways Richard had impacted his life and the fact that this is the first time he has written something of a tribute for a lost friend. This summer Damien will join an all-star band at Pickathon, the annual independent music festival in Happy Valley, Oregon, in a tribute show to Richard Swift’s final album The Hex. A show and festival that should not be missed. We were lucky to witness an intimate and beautiful performance from such an enigmatic songwriter at what is the perfect venue for him. Damien’s talents as both a songwriter and performer seem to be overlooked and should, in time, be given the attention he deserves. Catch him this late spring/early summer as he tours the East Coast before coming back to Portland to perform at Pickathon in August.
