Live at Higher Ground

Jan. 20, 2015 • Burlington, VT

By: Ted Kammerer

Imagine that band in college that you wouldn’t miss a night in a basement with, even if it meant missing a final the next day or sex with your girlfriend who only likes female vocalists in rock’n’roll. That band that even though you only had beers with the guitarist and drummer one hazy night, you instantly felt like old pals with the rest of the guys; the band that would make sure love happened, nights sealed in warm embraces and laughter. The band that, for a second and then some, made you feel a little bit better about life. Dr. Dog captures that raw innocence and exuberance that can usually only be found in those stars-aligning, whirlwind-of-discovery young bands, meeting each other during the formative, inspirational years of twenty-something.

Higher Ground has seen Dr. Dog become the band that they are today from just about their touring inception; the young band opened up for My Morning Jacket in 2004, way back when Higher Ground was still located in Winooski. Still raw and emotional at over 15 years a band without ever being patronizing or weepy, Dr. Dog never lost their voraciousness through the years on the road or in the studio, and Tuesday’s show at Higher Ground was a living testament to this. Amongst a hipster-kaliedescope stage display, (and I mean that in the most loving sense of the phrase) of fake palm trees and art-school flamingo backdrops, Dr. Dog honed in on a chemistry that started as genuine as it was accidental and developed it like a fine wine over the course of the night. Musically slinking and thrashing against each other, they tight-roped across both the dark sonic landscapes of tracks like “The Beach” and the sincere positivity found in “The Distant Light,” sussing out new sounds within their unique, folky songbook channeled though a pop-sensible fuzztone-musicbox. A tired listener is never in the ranks of their fans; each night is a different exercise in gritty exploration amongst songs both bubble-gum familiar like “Lonesome” or tracks like 2010’s “Shadow People” dusted off from the back pages of their repertoire.

They’ve earned themselves more followers than most any indie-hybrid band of their size, routinely selling out East Coast venues and drawing a whole lotta love out of cities like Burlington, VT. It’s really special to see a band that kind of defies genre, definition, or even expectation (and that isn’t a jamband or dubstep duo) get so much attention when they come to town. They’ve proven to fans both seasoned and green that they can still shake you all night long, show after show, like an old lover who just got back from a trip across a distant, mystical land. And if you didn’t already listen to them, then your friend whose taste in music you have always really respected has told you about them after you inquired about the warm, lo-fi, patchwork folk’n’roll sounds coming from his turntable and curiosity has been piqued, to say the least. Either way, you’re going to their next show.