An American Band: A review of These United States at the LAB
By Chall Gray
Dusty highways, rusty mailboxes, diners, foothills, plains, one-horse towns, two-car garages, and so on through the ceaseless series of addenda that make up the list of appropriately homespun things within the all-encompassing term Americana. In this digital age, where we sit next to a lake and read Thoreau from our iPad, listen to Woody Guthrie or Billie Holiday on our mp3 player and our hybrid automobiles recharge themselves as we brake for a school crossing, is there really any Americana left? Or perhaps, the more apt question is: what form does it take, if it is out there? The answer that I found on Friday night at the LAB performance space was a quintet of young musicians called These United States, hailing from Washington, DC and parts of Kentucky.
From their first song “West Won” onward, These United States made it obvious that they were a finely tuned act that not only deserved their audience’s attention but demanded it. Lead singer and songwriter for the band Jesse Elliott had a tendency to, at numerous points in the night, stop playing rhythm guitar (the band’s two other guitarists had things in hand during these moments) and, usually while singing a lyric written in second person, point sternly at particular members of the audience. The first time he did this I thought perhaps it had been an accident, or he’d simply gotten caught up in the moment, but as it happened several more times the device betrayed the calculation behind it. The effect of these punctuating gestures seemed to vary by audience member, with the most common reaction being discomfort. That didn’t seem to faze Elliott though, a tall, gangly figure with a scraggly beard and a particularly intense demeanor, who also made a habit of wringing and squeezing the microphone, as if trying to eke a last few drops of water from a hand-washed shirt.
But even the nearly cloying deployment of such physical histrionics didn’t detract from their stellar set. As they played I wrote that the third song was good, and then that their fourth song, “First Sight,” was amazing (the latter can be heard on their myspace page www.myspace.com/theseunited). And a focused and honed energy was evident not just on these two songs but for the band’s entire set. (They play over 200 shows per year, so that their live performances would be this well done is not a complete surprise.) Perhaps the best thing about These United States is also the most difficult to reconcile: the band’s ouevre don’t sound like anyone else in particular, but rather their influences and their sound varies greatly from one song to another. During their set I was at different times reminded of, to cite a few, Devendra Banhart, The Raconteurs, Death Cab for Cutie, and Son Volt, among others. This of course makes it difficult to describe them to someone succintly, or for any particular audience to find them–which was evident by the sparse attendance on Friday.
These United States spend most of the year on the roads of America–a nomadic existence spread across our vast country, and their songs are peppered with references to Mark Twain, General Custer, mountain roads, and that hot beating sun above the endless Eisenhower Interstate System. This is what the 21st Century has to offer in terms of real Americana, and next time it comes through Asheville you should be there to hear it for yourself.
Chall Gray is a producer and writer based in Asheville, NC.
