Music Under Fire

It was an unconventional night for us as we dropped in on a singer/songwriter night at the Tin Angel in Old City, Philadelphia, the upstairs venue above Serrano. The stage was set with Anya Marina to appear first, Jenny Owen Youngs then Greg Laswell.

Anya Marina


Anya Marina brought her smoky-sassed vocals to the table when it came time to cram it into the Tin Angel. The lighting was fitting for an emotional-driven set.

The acoustic setting led for her vocals to do much of the talking, which shined amidst the dark-lit stage. She played many of her favorites including "Miss Halfway", her song featured on Volume 2 of the Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack. Her passion for her songwriting was apparent in the way she sung and the guitar playing matched the mood.

The big news, however, is that her new album Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II would be released on January 20th (yesterday). She treated the crowd to several new songs from this album as well.

To our surprise, many had come to see just her, as the venue cleared a few visitors after her set.



Jenny Owen Youngs


Jenny Owen Youngs referred to herself as the "meat between the bread" as well as shared a few crude jokes with the crowd. Her humor was apparent as was her language, which does have its own appeal, too, if you're looking for the unconventional songwriter. If you're a fan of hers, you probably gather most of this from her song "F*ck Was I", which was well received by the crowd.

Her storytelling in between each song added to the show, as did her mystery shown in the picture above. Not only was her face hard to see, but it was a bit tough taking pictures of her as well.

Greg Laswell


As said by Anya Marina, Greg and her go back a little bit, enough to have toured with each other before, and are friendly with each other to do it again. As you may know from what we've written about Greg prior to the show, he's a singer/songwriter who has an instant appeal to many and not only writes music, but began his career as a producer first, then began writing his own albums.

Laswell began with "Days Go On" making his hour show a solo performance with a little help from a background guitar player. Much had changed from album to solo show; Laswell even alluded to saying next time he was around he wanted to play with a band. Many of the songs were quiet, particularly when he moved to piano playing songs from his previous album Through Toledo.

What makes a solo performance more fun to watch is when the artist can get involved with the singer through the stories they tell. In this particular instance, Laswell told of his demo song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", which he received hate mail for, then lamented it with a nice response to the naysayers.



He continued to play many songs from his better known Three Flights To Alto Nido, particularly his popular "That It Moves", "Comes and Goes (In Waves)" and "The One I Love".

After wrapping up the show with "How The Day Sounds", the highlight of the show was truly when Laswell let his vocals go. This was one of only few songs that really give him the option to let his voice sing as loud as the music was playing.

Overall, Laswell by himself gave the crowd a great show and the feeling in general was that of a pleasing, yet intimate display at the Tin Angel. A full band would have done Laswell's latest album, and many of the pieces he played here, more justice. The female vocals of Molly Jensen, who backed up his singing in certain songs was certainly missed as well. Most of his album seems to have a duality in the singing (such as "Days Go By") and are more difficult to play as a solo act. Laswell has dipped his hands in two different styles of music here and that plays to his strengths in each different setting.