[All photos by the ever gracious and talented Lee Runyan.]Cincinnati band The Seedy Seeds caught my attention just a couple months ago with their 2008 Eurodorable release, Count the Days. And it is...adorable. All full of accordion and banjo and dancing beats and Mike Ingram and Margaret Darling's voices earnestly popping, soaring and "lala"ing about hearts and dirt and sunshine. When I saw they were coming to Denver to participate in the rich, satisfying cornucopia of music known as the UMS, I was all set to finally see these guys live.
Unfortunately I had to miss their Sunday set, which I heard was phenomenal. Luckily, this magnanimous trio decided to play a free show the very next day at local record shop, Wax Trax. So I trekked over despite having been told over the phone that they were not playing in the store. But I don't trust disembodied voices, and while I was browsing the CDs hoping against hope that what I had heard was wrong, I heard a banjo tuning.
With great excitement, I barreled over into the next room, and saw to my great delight The Seedy Seeds about to launch into their first song. Blame it on the sheer excitement of being proven right, or see it as a testament to how darn catchy this hard-to-pigeonhole (electronica? folk? who cares?) group is...but my feet started moving and barely stopped for the full 45 minute set.
Darling and Ingram make a great duo, full of energy and swapping guitar duty back and forth, with Ingram defaulting to his banjo to pluck out some of the most infectious melodies I have heard in a while, and Darling playing the accordion with an ease I would expect only from seasoned Oktoberfest musicians; certainly not from this pretty voiced woman with a kazoo. I couldn't help but be mesmerized by Brian Penick's light-up drum set. Every beat activated white Christmas lights, just like my beloved pink light up shoes of yore.
The Seedy Seeds played a great, engaging show with a surprisingly full sound and unbounded energy. Though there were not many of us there, I just could not stop smiling and dancing around. The music made me feel more unselfconcious than many bigger shows I've been to where I have often felt relegated to controlled toe tapping and apathetic arm-crossing.
The Ohio locals have a new 7" out called Roll Deep on Shake It Records that they released JUST for Record Store Day in April. Check it out, check them out. They're already slated for SXSW next year, and will be doing CMJ this year, along with releasing a full length album early next year, possibly around February or March.We Are Missing- The Seedy Seeds
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