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ACL Review: Blind Pilot
Mellow and resolutely mid-tempo, Blind Pilot’s music is maybe better suited to an intimate coffee house than a festival field, but the Portland, Ore.-based group drew a sizable crowd to bake in the midday sun at the Zync stage Sunday. Singer-guitarist Israel Nebeker has a warm, engaging voice, and since the duo he formed with drummer Ryan Dobrowski has expanded to include Kati Claborn on banjo and dulcimer, Luke Ydstie on upright bass, Dave Jorgensen on trumpet and harmonium and Ian Krist on vibraphone, unusual arrangements add color to songs that all tend toward the ruminative.
Often, Blind Pilot seemed a lot like a more summery, less mysterious Bon Iver, as on “Two Towns From Me,” “3 Rounds and a Sound” and a new song that ended suddenly with the memorable line “Let my heart beat itself still.” Claborn’s voice blended very well with Nebeker’s, but pretty as their harmonies were, the delicate vibraphone and exotic harmonium — a bellows-powered keyboard instrument, often used in Indian music — did more to set the band apart.
Blind Pilot was always ingratiating, but most interesting on “One Red Thread,” where it picked up the pace, slowed it down and then gathered momentum again, giving the strong rhythm section a real chance to shine and using harmonium and trumpet to emphasize shifting moods.
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