Review: Kevin Morby at The Rechabite

Kevin Morby at The Rechabite
w/ Lo Carmen
Sunday, October 8, 2023

Kevin Morby is an artist who wears his heart on his sleeve, his folk and roots-based tunes strained from personal experience and imbued with warmth. Initially of the noise-folk group The Woods, Morby has quietly blazed a solo career since 2013 that has slowly grown a legion of fans. Many were in attendance at The Rechabite on Sunday night in an at times intimate, at times celebratory performance.

A warm welcome was extended to opener Lo Carmen, who played like Morby in miniature. It was a bare bones performance scoped down to just herself and an electric guitar. Often foregoing fingerpicking for just some slow-strummed, reverb-soaked chords, this was an exercise in minimalist country with a hint of Australiana. 

Opener Six Strings of Pleasure perfectly showcased Carmen’s ability to hold a crowd with just spaced out chords and her beautiful, smoky vocals. Bee was a warmer, more homespun tune that had the crowd wrapped in its blanket. The closer injected more energy, with guitar in effect for the fingerpicked and tremolo-laden Everyone You Ever Knew (Is Coming Back to Haunt You), an understated gem that’s worth a spin for any fan of cosmic country.

Kevin Morby made a wordless entrance to a crowd that had swelled in capacity by this point. He launched straight into the dry chords of opener Photograph, an ear worm from his latest duo of albums in 2022’s This Is a Photograph, and 2023’s More Photographs (A Continuum). Both come highly-recommended musical documents, their songs embracing slices of Morby’s life, be it childhood memories, tales of unrequited love or simply his love of cars. 

The duo of releases is also just a great selection of songs, and this set featured many. The car infatuation was in evidence on sophomore track Triumph, another higher-octane singalong with big rock energy. The band had the standard guitar and rhythm section setup, but also alternated between keys and saxophone. The sax provided a jolt of energy throughout the set as evidenced here, raising the energy while retaining an earthiness often lost in storms of guitar power chords.

Sax was traded for flute on Bittersweet, TN, a drift into softer country territory in a rather wrenching ballad about the passing of time and one’s relative decline. Lo Carmen came back on for a duet in an early contender for highlight of the night. The guitars were once out for follow-up Rock Bottom, arguably Morby’s hardest rocking song to date and surefire crowd-pleaser that got the punters moving as its punchy stop-start dynamics came alive onstage. 

From the crowd reaction you could see that Morby was an artist with a devoted and longtime loyal following. His humility shone through as he thanked the crowd, his last trip to Perth being all the way back in 2013 as part of Woods. Perth was reserved another mention later in the set amidst the hypnotic riffs of City Music, a smooth-as-silk jam that carried the whole audience down the river. While rooted in country and folk the band was very versatile, as evidenced on this jam and also on a one-two punch of I Have Been to the Mountain/Dorothy, and the jazzy Destroyer which featured an almost fusion-esque horn solo and a very agile drum breakdown.

Morby reserved the best for last with the final trio of tracks. The hypnotic Coat of Butterflies was driven by a two-chord phrase played by a member picked from the audience. Morby’s dream-like vocals shone here. The opportunity would’ve made this fan’s night and the unnamed hero killed it, appending a few licks to close the track which prompted the remark from Kevin that nobody has ever ‘taken it for a walk’ before. Hats off Perth for our crowds, who can obviously play as well as listen. 

A short encore gave way to Morby’s two biggest tracks. First was a modern campfire anthem in Beautiful Stranger which needed no introduction – it was just as anthemic onstage. Harlem River concluded the set. This swampy and reverbed tune is all the Morby some people will ever need with its ethereal vocal harmonies and simple but iconic riff. It was featured in all its extended glory, Morby and band stretching the jam for all it was worth in a triumphant ode to American stomping grounds.  

As Morby humbly bid his farewell to the crowd with the throwing of roses, we certainly hope to see his bright face on our own stomping grounds again soon.

MATIJA ZIVKOVIC

Photos by Linda Dunjey