photo from MySpace
by Gary Miller
Powerpop as a genre has always been pretty amorphous. Sure, there are the staple bands of the genre. But, over the years there has been a tendency for those who write about it to include a pretty wide variety of bands, influences and sounds. Thus, with no pause I include groups like Andy Werth and Curtains For You, both of whom performed at the Chop Suey last night, among the bands I cover at the Seattle Powerpop Blog.
I’ve never particularly cared for tight genre definitions anyway, and if I’m going to include Andy Werth’s bright sunny pop, then why not include others standing under than same umbrella?
That brings me to the subject of this post, one Sarah Shannon. In the 1990s, I was a huge Velocity Girl fan. Having released music on Sub Pop with Velocity Girl, Sarah already had Pacific Northwest connections. But, it was only a year or so ago that I realized that she actually lives here. She also put out a darn fine solo record of bright sunny pop music, as evidenced in the video below for her song “City Morning Song.” It veers a bit into Broadway territory at times. But, is an altogether pleasant listening experience.
She’s bringing her live act to the Triple Door this Saturday, January 19, and her live band includes some familiar Seattle names like Katie Freeze, Sonny Votolato, Paul Pugliese, Adam Fream, and Sarah Nelson.
Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.
