S. Carey & White Hinterland played Highline Ballroom (pics)

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Jessica Timlin

S. Carey

I walked out of the flurries falling over 16th street Monday night and into the ballroom that is Highline where the right and left sides of the room are dedicated to tables, and the aroma of french fries was in the air. Openers White Hinterland aka Casey Dienel and Shawn Creeden, enthusiastically took the stage around 8:15. A decent group had gathered and stood silently, hypnotized by the sounds of Dienel's ghostly vocals looping and poignantly floating through the room. There were a few technological problems with wires from her keyboard falling loose so Dienel sweetly commented on our politeness, and suggested that we get rowdy by heading to the bar area to get our drink on (but the show was 16 and up, and the room wasn't exactly filled, so no rowdiness actually happened).

Despite the few sound issues, White Hinterland played a solid and lengthy set. There were projections of a light sky with birds flying, and white, glittered branches were collected in areas throughout the ballroom, so the place "truly look like White Hinterland," as Dienel pointed out. Their last song, a tasteful cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", was dedicated to Gretchen Jones (winner of Project Runway) who was in the crowd. Gretchen is a friend of the members of the band; she used their music as the accompaniment to her winning collection when it was debuted during Fashion Week.

S. Carey started their set with the album intro "Move," a mainly instrumental piece with Carey on acoustic guitar and the percussionist on vibes, running violin bows along the fronts of the strings to create mystical sound effects, accompanied by quiet vocal harmonies and strings. The band was nothing short of fantastic and transitioned into two more songs before stopping to speak. They then spiraled into the crescendo that was the song "Mothers." Bon Iver member Sean Carey, up from his keyboard, joined in a tumultuous beating of drums as upright bass player Jeremy Boettcher pounded out the deep soul of the song and viola player Mike Noyce helped carry the beautiful melodies. After the song, the band was met with an uproar of applause.

Although their set seemed short, they played their album All We Grow in its entirety. Sean also played b-side "Leave", and concluded the set with a cover of the Notwist's "Consequences."

Casey Dienel said that White Hinterland may play another show in the city come February. Both bands continue on tour. Roadtrip anyone? More pictures from the Highline show below...