Built to Spill @ The Pageant, 9/29/09

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Built to Spill’s frontman, Doug Martsch, sings with a delicacy that seemingly couldn’t work with indie rock… yet it does. Perfectly. Going from foot-tapping, driving rock songs, to melancholy 6/8 time ballads, Martsch’s voice is the common denominator. His resonant bell-like tone is both soft and focused at the same time and BTS’ vocal melodies soar over the roar of three Fender guitars with grace. At Tuesday night’s show at the Pageant, his lines like, “You were right when you said, we are all just bricks in the wall. And when you said manic depression’s a frustrating mess,” were sharp enough to cut glass but warm enough to feel like a letter written in longhand.

(Video after the jump)
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This entry was written by John Stanley, posted on October 2, 2009 at 12:51 pm, filed under Live and tagged Built to Spill, Doug Martsch, The Pageant. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.