I first heard of Other Lives when a friend who, when he found out I was going to SXSW mentioned them first in his list of must see acts at the festival.  I take these types of recommendations seriously especially coming from musically well-versed and knowledgeable heads.   I dug in to find out more about this Stillwater Oklahoma band about a week before I left for Austin and what I found only added fuel to my growing interest.

First point of intrigue (and this is before I ever heard a note of their music) is that their debut album is being released on the newly formed TBD records.  “What’s in a label?” you say.  Well, normally I am with you on that but in this case we have something to actually take note of.  TBD has exactly one other release: Radiohead In Rainbows.  Yeah, holy shit is right.  So, theirs is the second release on probably the most lauded new record label like, ever – that’s some juice.  Oh, and the album is produced by Joey Waronker, a legend in indie music for his work with Walk Mink (which he founded in 1990), REM, Smashing Pumpkins, and Elliott Smith.  Interested yet?

The band comes from a town with exactly one music venue in the middle of Oklahoma.  Their instrumentation includes guitars, bass, and drums that you’d expect from a middle-America group.  Add to that the haunting delicate brilliance of the cello, layers of keyed instruments like harpsichord, harmonium, and mellotron, and you have yourself a sound like you’ve never heard.  Sonically, its parts symphonic, rock and roll, acoustic Americana, soul and bourbon whiskey.  Add to this the strong, sorrow soaked, and multiple personality-ed vocals of singer and songwriter Jesse Tabish and there you have a recipe worthy of the follow up release to In Rainbows.  This record has become a good friend over the few weeks that I’ve known it.  It gives to me something different every time I sit down with it.  My favorite records have always been like that, unfolding, each listen unlocking your ability to absorb what you take away from the next one.

I was excited to see how the band would attempt to pull of these album arrangements in a live setting.  Often times the album is delicate and understated as it pulls you through a full spectrum of emotions.  To pull this off at a festival, a band needs the help of the audience.  It’s a rare occasion these days that you find a completely captive audience, hanging on every pull of the cello bow.  Other Lives performance in the parking lot of the San Jose hotel in south Austin not only held the attention of those watching, it drew in dozens of people walking by on the busy sidewalk licking their ice cream cones, on their way to somewhere else and helped them get lost for a while.

I put this performance in my top 2 or 3 of the entire year thus far.  So, you missed the show in the parking lot.  They are going to be doing dates with the Decemberists and Elvis Perkins in the near future so not all is lost.  In the meantime, the album is highly recommended for a cloudy day and a pair of headphones.

Words by Roemer, Photos by Zoetica Ebb