CONCERT SAMPLER
Laura Marling is back with her sixth LP and a show that would top any music nerd’s dance card,
Live music highlights for the week of May 4 to 10. NAO
Londoner on the rise has followed 2016’s soul-stirring For All We Know debut (and her CMW introduction at the Mod Club) with an EP of remixed commissions, including Polaris Prize man Kaytranada’s crisp take, an update on “Get to Know You,” which nicely illustrates how her stylings can lift Brit R&B from the numbing ennui of James Blake et al to a warmer new-school/old-school place. Raised on classic ’90s soul and possessed of an angelic voice that conjures up the late Minnie Riperton, she attracted a good crowd here a year ago and should go better in this larger room. (Thursday, Phoenix, doors 8 p.m.)
Father John Misty
Royal Alex floorboards have supported the cream of world theatre and now get former Fleet Foxes turned elegantly raging 21st-century folk prophet Joshua Tilliman in his Father John Misty persona, and for two nights yet — given his theatrical histrionics, there’s no need for stage directions. Most recent collection Pure Comedy has him pointed as usual but more political than ever on the tragicomedy of existence — “I hate to say it, but each other’s all we got,” he concludes on the title track’s mordant Trump check. Live with a tight band backing him once again, the only thing missing is the beard, or at least its former full glory — otherwise, he’s the same quipping powder keg we know from previous visits and he’s not going away for long, with a Massey Hall return date in September already booked. “Oh great, just what we all need,” he notes on another cut, “another white guy in 2017 who takes himself so goddamn seriously.” (Friday and Saturday, Royal Alexandra Theatre, 8 p.m.)
Slowdive Beloved
U.K. shoegaze pioneers knocked the rust off with a 2014 cash-grab tour including a sold-out T.O. stop. Now, they’re back with new music to play from their first record in 22 years. What’s even more surprising, given the track record for this kind of comeback stuff, the self-titled LP and the shows accompanying its release are earning raves well beyond their first go-around in the early ’90s (which ended/imploded with a farewell gig at Lee’s Palace, of all places). Japanese Breakfast starts it off, for anyone who missed her or is game for a reprise of her three nights last month at the now-closed Silver Dollar — and here they all are, sold right out again. (Friday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m.)
Jaimie Branch
With brand-new record Fly or Die and this first tour, the American extends her CV and her technique on trum- pet, stepping up from genre-crossing Midwestern hired hand to full-blown composer/bandleader. “Theme 002” has her horn rolling in, elongated like a fog that gradually breaks up over a stonking rhythm section — and the quartet that gets right trippy on the whole suite are scheduled to make the journey here with her, all drawn from Chicago’s experimental-jazz community and now headliners for Feast in the East, a series of out-there music and food events marking its sixth anniversary. Down the deep and deeply weird bill, the eerie, fruginducing oscillations of local avantgardists Phèdre and Tenderness figure to be among the highlights. Also, there’ll be sliders. (Saturday, Jam Factory, 9 p.m.)
Vulfpeck and Joey Dosik
Jammy Michigan-schooled foursome Vulfpeck tweeted last week: “our encore this tour will be settling the venue deal onstage with the promoter.” With three sold-out nights in a place that holds 1,300 or so, there’s some settling ahead, and in keeping with their development, largely bypassing the business’s usual duespaying/ritual-humiliation route over six years. Bonding over a knowing love for ’60s-’70s vintage instrumentals à la the MG’s et al (and of late, Jacksons-echoing funk-pop confections like “Animal Spirits”), with hints of klezmer mayhem, social-media acumen and tank tops, they’ve carved out a niche and of course, it helps they can play some, with Joe Dart in particular being a big favourite in the community that’s built up around them and among bass aficionados. In support, Joey Dosik is a soul-soaked voice and keyboard presence on his own or sitting in. (Monday to Wednesday, Phoenix, 8 p.m. doors)
Laura Marling
A more buttoned-down folkie than Father John Misty, Marling nonetheless shares with the American the acute sensitivity of a wordsmith channelling thoughts through musical notation. The recordings and visits have slowed down a touch, but she’s back, truly, madly, deeply getting into it on sixth LP Semper Femina. Given her rocked-out leanings and love of an obscure crowdsourced cover tossed into the set list, she does add some live muscle and panache (and six-piece band backing) to her poetic musing — and what a voice. Fittingly, she shares pick of the week with Father John Misty, a double that’d top any music nerd’s dance card. (Wednesday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m.)