Electric Owls - These Days (Jackson Browne)

About a year before Hot Fuss was released, The Killers played in front of about two dozen people at the Black Cat in DC. Nobody knew what they were seeing, but most of the people in the crowd were visibly stirred before their show ended. The band opened for Stellastarr, and TV on the Radio played the backstage downstairs. The Killers left the stage with moderate applause from not-yet adoring fans.

Fast-forward to this weekend: on Saturday night, Electric Owls (aka Andy Herod of The Comas) played the Black Cat, almost solo acoustic, opening for Bishop Allen. His accompaniment was his laptop, placed neatly on a comfortable-looking wooden chair on stage. A few people in the audience quipped "He should be called Electric OWL." If you paid close attention, though, and if you used your imagination, you could see and hear a full band behind Andy, who reminded me of a young Lindsay Buckingham playing solo, confidently hitting the chords and singing with the passion of a man singing to a sold-out venue. Nobody even flinched or crinkled a brow as he sang what was likely the most macabre verses any of them heard all Halloween week, from Cannibal Superstar:

Reflected too long on a cannibal's life,
And I found myself obsessed with thoughts of eating my wife
Oh, I am
Not an evil man
She came home and I shot her dead
And I pulled her favorite pillowcases over her head
Oh, then I
Faded and cried
Whoah, what have I done?
Get in the car
I am a cannibal superstar

I suspect that in six months or so, not too long after Electric Owls' debut LP release date, that the people I shared the floor with on November 1st, 2008, will then, and not sooner, realize that they witnessed a very special half-hour of live music, and make a good fuss about it.

Here's a Jackson Browne cover from the show:

Electric Owls - These Days (Jackson Browne)(Black Cat, 11-1-2008)(mp3)

Get the Electric Owls EP from their myspace.

By the way, if you wondered, yes, Bishop Allen was absolutely fantastic.