The Weather Station
The Pinhook, Durham
Saturday, July 18, 2015
The first time I saw The Weather Station was on a farm in Hillsborough, almost three years ago. It was a magical late summer evening. Tamara Lindeman’s captivating voice and gentle acoustic guitar spilled out of a barn and hooked me.
She’s still got her incredible voice, but Lindeman’s songs have reached an astonishing level of elegance and confidence, not always evident on the earlier Weather Station material, including the charming All of it Was Mine. The Weather Station released an EP last fall, What Am I Going To Do With Everything I Know, which previewed the depth that this spring’s Loyalty would offer. These songs flourish in full-band arrangements. In Durham, Lindeman favored an electric guitar over the beat-up acoustic she had when I last saw her, and she had cohorts on drums, bass, keys and another electric guitar to back her up. Lindeman delivered two of the EP’s tracks in succession— “Don’t Understand” and “Time”—for a devastating one-two punch. The rest of the set pulled heavily from Loyalty, from the quick patter of the opener “Way It Is, Way It Could Be” to the more meditative “Like Sisters.”
Though The Weather Station’s understated charm is more suited for reverent halls than rock clubs, this night at The Pinhook was nonetheless delightful. Check out Dan Schram’s capture of The Weather Station playing three tunes from Loyalty below.
The Weather Station, “Way It Is, Way It Could Be”
