THE WEATHER STATION BLEW INTO TOWN & STOLE OUR HEARTS

It was an appropriately stormy night when the gloriously moody songstress Tamara Lindeman and her band The Weather Station finally came to town to play at Music Hall of Williamsburg after having postponed their NYC appearance many times due to pandemic concerns. “We rescheduled this show five times, and now we’re actually here,” said the Toronto-based singer during her gorgeously opulent performance. Her previous album Ignorance was released way back in February of 2021, and it was a jazzy, exuberant, and energetic full-band experience that became a very big indie pop success, and many people (myself included) were very excited to see it played live, but that chance never came to be. During the recent stretch of the pandemic, that included many more cancelled plans for all of us, she had released another disc that is a much more sparse and dark sounding effort with mostly just piano and vocals with a scattering of sax and bass called “How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars,” so I wasn’t sure if she’d have much of a band at all this time around, but I was happy to see her backed by the full ensemble who producing a very fully lush and lavish sound for this tour.

The show was opened by folk artist and crooner extraordinaire Sam Amidon that many consider to be one of the premier singer/songwriters of today’s folky scene. He has a rich catalogue of amazing material, and often plays with his wife Beth Orton, but this night he played all solo, swapping between banjo and guitar as he enchanted the audience with a mix of originals and covers like “Walkin’ Boss,” “Time Has Made a Change in Me,” and a brilliant rendition of Arthur Russell’s “Lucky Cloud.” Seeing him sing live, I can’t help being reminded of the classic 70’s James Taylor sweetly smooth vocal cadence and his often surprising harmonic timing that woos you in no matter what speed it’s coming at you.

Sam Amidon

The Weather Station started their set with Lindeman kneeling in the middle of a pitch-dark stage belting out an a cappella version of a sentimental new song called “Stars.” Then bassist Ben Whitely, drummer Evan Cartwright, keyboardist Johnny Spence, and guitarist Will Kidman came out and joined her for pretty much the whole rest of the show, with the exception of the song “Tried to Tell You” in the middle of the set, on which she played piano and traded vocal duties with her guitarist, and with whom she also dueted on a tune during the encore called “To Talk About.” Much like how Sam Amidon reminds me another classic vocalist, it was during those more vocally bare moments that Tamara Lindeman really reminded me of Joni Mitchell with a particularly breathy harmonic swaying of lush vocals that can at times get eerily similar to the queen of pain’s jazz-drenched mid-70’s period.

The Weather Station

With the full accompaniment keeping the storm rolling, she played most of the previous band-intensive album Ignorance, including the hit “Robber,” for which she donned the big jacket covered in big mirror shards that she wore on the cover, and during which Sam Amidon came out to play violin. She ended the show with the gorgeous track “Thirty” from her forth album from back in 2017, and it proved to be a profoundly powerful closer. The whole show was brilliantly enchanting, and the smoothly undulating rhythms and harmonies had me bewitched throughout. She will be back in NYC this summer when they open for Mitski at Radio City in July, and I hope to hear much more from this magnificent talent whenever they blow back into town.