Kadman Sings Slower And Louder
Kadman | Image by City Paper Digi-Cam
It’s only been a year since Baltimore shoegaze trio Kadman released its debut album, Sing to Me Slower, but the band has been quickly developing and changing since then. The only member left from that album’s lineup is founding singer/guitarist David Manchester, and the material being worked on for the follow-up shows the benefits of a new rhythm section. On Thursday night, Kadman played a brief set at the Metro Gallery to showcase some of the new songs, and the new lineup’s take on the old songs.
Upright bassist James Bahleda is a valuable addition, and some of the best moments of the band’s set came when he held down the melody while Manchester let a little feedback ring out. Unfortunately, Bahleda was drowned out by the rest of the band a little too often, and hopefully will be more audible at future shows. Manchester’s introduction for “Honeymoon’s End,” explaining how the song was inspired by his own actual honeymoon, gave a new dimension to one of the band’s best tunes. And the band closed with a surprisingly uptempo new song that may help break Kadman out of the self-imposed slow and low limitations of their previous material.
The Thursday show was opened by Porcelain Doll Club, a solo singer/songwriter who appeared a little nervous and inexperienced, but gave a pleasant, ingratiating performance. The real gem of the show was the other opener, Birds and Arrows, a husband/wife duo from North Carolina. Singer/guitarist Andrea Connolly’s sweetly smoky voice and twangy tunes with Pete Connolly’s complementary harmonies and bombastic drums combined to create one of the more complete, full-bodied sounds ever to come out of a two-person band. The only frustrating thing, however, was that the killer standout of Birds and Arrows’ set, “Not Interested,” is a newer tune not yet available on record. But, like Kadman, their previews of unreleased songs made a good case for keeping an eye out for a future release date.
