Cat’s Cradle Backroom Carrboro, NC
Contact: martin@theglowmgmt.com
Web: daughterofswordsmusic.com
Players: Alex Sauser-Moning, guitars, vocals; Molly Sarle, guitars, keys, vocals; Amelia Meath, vocals, percussion; Nick Sanborn, guitar, keys; Caleb Wright, drums, vocals
Try describing a spiral staircase without using your hands. That’s nothing like squeezing a Daughter of Swords show into the written word format and bitch-slapped onto a page. This breathtaking ensemble displayed charm, audio sophistication, and super-cohesive stage chops while driving the stagecoach careening thru the sonic pass, staying just ahead of the posse.
The back-room crowd was ready, too. Alex Sauser-Moning, who plays under “Daughter of Swords,” was an engaging although somewhat reserved front-woman for this band of musical tatterdemalions. Small in stature, big dark glasses framed around a blonde mane, Sauser-Moning let go her remarkable pipes and swung right into “Alone Together,” then seamlessly into “Talk To You” and “Hard On,” then “Morning In Madison,” before taking a pause.
The ensemble kept the groove going right behind her—everyone on stage was making something happen, it all clicked, and nothing was out of place. The two guitars in the back switched up between piano and guitar while the percussion was so on the beat you couldn’t fit a 16th note in between anything anywhere. Yup, that tight. That’s the meat and potatoes, kids, now here comes the gravy: the multi-voice harmonies were thrilling and spine tingling—it was the Cranberries meets The Manhattan Transfer on a bus driven by The Bangles and Queen’s Roger Taylor trading high notes with the Go-Go’s, Ronnie Spector, and a bit of Bananarama all at once, with Bugsy LowLow taking tickets. Sound and swagger and lyrical magic... everything cascaded into “Willow,” “West of West,” and closing with “Prairie Winter Wasteland” and “Gem.”
Led by Alex Sauser-Moning, the Swords put on a dizzying arrangement and at the heart of their set, thoughtful, sometimes mellow, and beautiful dynamics took hold, with the back and forth between the attentive audience. With the band behind her, she cast a spell on the crowd and the highly-charged atmosphere was distracting enough that no one noticed the line changes as they got into position to crash boom-bang the fearless “Dance,” and “Song” before tearing into “Grasses.”
While digging farther into the catalog, it was clear that after only a few records, lots of grit, and determined songcraft, this highly polished ensemble has a story to tell and a bright future ahead. The soaring vocals, the harmonies, and the song choices left no doubt that Daughter of Swords had arrived, and arrived with style.
