Garcia Peoples played O’Brien’s Pub – 2/7
NJ’s Garcia Peoples hit Allston for the first show of a two-night stand last Tuesday, with support from Western Mass’ Gold Dust.
I have a working theory that indie rock culture is kind of, sort of, coming around to the notion of the jam band. This is not to suggest that the Phish and Guided By Voices crowds are suddenly merging into one, but moreso that where the mere hint of being Grateful Dead-adjacent was once considered deeply uncool, we can now acknowledge jam-like tendencies in the improvisatory nature, surprising segues and adventurous setlist curation of, say, Yo La Tengo’s annual Hanukkah residencies or last year’s ever-fluctuating Pavement reunion shows. I (obviously) am more steeped in one culture than the other, but I do feel that the gulf between them is not so vast as tastemakers once wanted it to appear.
Garcia Peoples – a Jersey collective who can surely play to both sides – are a case-in-point band. The name certainly wears an influence on the proverbial sleeve, but the band is a more complex beast than a straightforwardly Dead-worshipping one. They craft bouncy, catchy songs woven with psychedelic textures that can stop on a dime or spiral out in any number of exploratory directions – and did plenty of that in a laid-back, vibe-y set at O’Brien’s last week. As when I’ve caught them in opening and sitting-in slots before, with Ethan Miller’s Howlin’ Rain and a 2019 gig with Ryley Walker and Chris Forsyth, the show was simultaneously a hypnotic and unpredictable trip (which encouraged me to get even more out-there with the images than usual).
Opening the night was a lovely set from Gold Dust, a newish project led by singer/guitarist Stephen Pierce. I first came to know Pierce’s music through the towering tones of his shoegaze band Kindling, and while Gold Dust brings down the decibel level from that project, there’s still a distinctive heaviness to their brand of psych-folk. A great match for the night and a debut LP well worth hearing.
Scroll below for photos from both sets.
