I arrived in Chicago yesterday, and without unpacking at all from my six-month absence (I had been in Barcelona studying abroad in the spring and in San Jose over the summer), I got lunch with my roommate Matt and asked him if he was doing anything that night and whether or not he’d be interested in hearing an orchestral indie group with a crazy big sound. He had never heard of Mother Falcon (not enough people have), but it sounded cool to him. We agreed to meet at around 5:30 to leave for Roscoe Village. I headed off to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the end of the Impressionism, Fashion, & Modernity exhibit with my friend and roommate Savannah.

Roscoe Village is a pretty cute little area. Constellation is a barely noticeable music venue at Western and Belmont (in fact, we walked around for a little bit just trying to find it). However, inside it’s lovely. Wonderful unfinished ceiling, low (almost romantic) lighting, and really nice drink prices. I had a Pimm’s cup for $6. I loved the seating – there were seats arranged all around the performance area, and no matter where you were seating, it was a lovely view of the performance area.

Mother Falcon has an amazing sound live – imagine an orchestra of fifteen furiously playing, and all the while adding lovely vocal harmonies. Check out their album “You Knew” – it’s absolutely majestic, and even more so when you are sitting less than ten feet away from the players. Immediately, I noticed that Nick Gregg’s bow strings were frayed (and if you’ve ever seen them play as furiously as they do, you know why), and in place of a normal cello pin stopper, he had a shoe. Very cute. They also covered Radiohead’s OK Computer. How crazy is that? Tamir Kalifa did his best Thom Yorke impression (can’t say it was really an impression, really – his rich timbre showed elsewhere during Mother Falcon’s set, and it showed a really great match for the songs on OK Computer. For their encore, they played Dirty Summer, during which the lead female singer (who also plays the guitar, the trumpet, and the banjo) actually stood on her chair as she belted out their incredibly catchy hook along with the audience.

Overall, I think I started out the year quite well. Here’s to a productive and wonderful fourth year at the University of Chicago.

Take a listen to some of Mother Falcon’s music: Dirty Summer, Marigold

Listen to their cover of Paranoid Android off of OK Computer.