Last night at Aviary was a lovely one full of delicate lyrics, reverb, and instruments with f-holes. For the evening The Red Heroine (formerly Mr. Sister) featured Nicholas Ward of Hallelujah the Hills, who spun a golden yarn of bowed magic around songwriter Amelia Emmet’s dark and drifting melodies. Chris North shucked his usual guitar shredding dreamland quartet in favor of a hushed rhythm section comprised of Chris McCarthy on upright and harmony vocals, and percussion by Greg Besun, fresh from touring with Carter Tanton, opening for The War On Drugs. New tunes shone through, including ‘The Nature of Love,’ which seemlessly transitioned into Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ (see vid.) Newcomers The Poison Oaks dropped a 7″ at the show, and gave a receptive crowd what it didn’t know it needed- a perfect hour-long snapshot of the territory where Grateful Dead collide with The Dixie Chicks (at their absolute best.)

http://vimeo.com/31922776