Seismic-Sound.com Commentary: The Pica Beats, The Soft Hills and Cumulus. Comet Tavern (2-3-12)

Friday night’s opener at the Comet was the singular singer/songwriter known as Cumulus. Cumulus was so good that people were actually screaming and shouting for an encore FROM THE OPENERS! The lead singer, sweet little  Alexandra  Niedzialkowski , with her beautiful child-esque voice and poetic lyrics just blew me away! Kicking off her set with a spirited “Do You Remember”,which is my favorite track off of their six-song  self-titled EP ; connection, beauty and applause increased with each song. Cumulus will be playing at “The Round” in Fremont on February 14th which means that we all actually have something worthwhile to do on Valentine’s Day this year. Hallelujah.   We need to love, support and enjoy Alex as much as possible now because it won’t be long before seven bills ain’t gonna’ get us within spittin’ distance of one of her shows.

 The Soft Hills took the stage after Cumulus and if I needed to describe this set in one word, it would be: “Fuckingdrums.” The first song they played, “Tidal Waves”, is from their new album “The Bird is Coming Down to Earth” which is being released this Valentines Day. Starting out with this song got me so stoked for their entire set! About 30 seconds into the first song the drums kick in and I could feel the beat tickling my feet through the floor, beating my heart through my chest and blowing my hair back. Their style of psychedelic-folk rock paired with some trippy projection playing behind them should have a special place in everyone’s life right next to that 6 month old bag of mushrooms that you have been waiting for the perfect time to shove down your pie-hole. They appropriately have the drummer placed center stage for maximum viewing from the crowd, and thank someones fucking God because you do not want to miss a bit of his entire being all beaded in Native American jewelry, bracelets on both wrists, rings on multiple fingers (no wedding ring, ladies and gents),  a hippy stone necklace, western shirt, a hat that one would wear on an arctic excursion and to top it all off, the signature Seattle beard, all while he is beating the guts out of his sparkly gold drum set.    The way he wails on the drums makes me wanna know how he wails in bed. Someone sleep with him and get back to me on this one? Please? Thank you.

 Finally the Pica Beats took their turn in front of the giant red ‘C’ on stage and they are soooo fucking interesting. That may sound like a boring statement but from this jaded reviewer that is the greatest compliment I can come up with! They are interesting … very, very interesting.  I want to know what they do in their free time besides stand on stage and look cool while playing awesome music. I loved everything they played,  especially their last song, “Holding Out”. The passion was there, they were dancing on stage, it was a great show. You could not help but move your ass to these folks. The women of the band visually steal the stage: The drummer has long dark hair and classes it up in her signature blazer. Vocalist and “miscellaneous percussionist”Alice Sandahl, brings a stunning and unexpected presence to the stage with her beautiful face and incredible jaw line. This foursome played so well together  that I would go as far as to say that their timing was perfect. After seeing them twice, I was surprised to find out that they are actually a solo-project of the lead singer which just adds to all the mystery.   Pica Beats.   Go. Now.   Hells good. ~ Sara Johnson