Nurses ::: Photo by Abbey

Say something wonderful, say something horrible - from the song “Caterpillar Playground”

MP3: “Caterpillar Playground” by Nurses from the unreleased Apple’s Acre courtesy of Dead Oceans

With short notice, suddenly a Seattle house show appeared on the Nurses myspace calendar. The South Pole. Not a DIY venue I’d ever heard of. No address listed. My other plans for Friday sadly had to be scrapped. I had to figure out where this South Pole was. After conversing with the band’s label representative, we had an address. Success was mine!

Come last Friday night when we arrived, around 9.30ish, other than the bands themselves, only the residents of the house were present. Nothing had even started yet. Even though we thought we were an hour and a half late we were actually an hour early. Oops. After a beer run and a few more had gathered, in a dimly lit living room, one man band Groves, and then one woman band Violets played short sets.

Sensing the lateness of the hour once their showtime came around, the Nurses trio promptly took to their already pieced together setup of drums, a topless Rhodes, and a multi-device synth and sampling station in the dining room, and without pomp began their set for a crowd of about fifteen. From the first instant all I could think was how much these guys embody the playful and unconventional spirit of the PDX pop and house show scene, from their use of “oooh, oooh, oooh” and whistling as rhythmic device to the very personal clothing styles they’ve embraced.

Singer and guitarist Aaron Chapman’s voice on first listen might hardly be called a singing voice, but in time he reveals an unexpected range and ability. His vocal delivery is a moving target, but intentionally so. Strong and sure,  he reaches for and hits falsetto notes in the most unexpected of places. Multi-instrumentalist John Bowers meanwhile saw to a bevy of samplers, loopers, sound modifiers and synths for the most part, giving each song an ambient background punctuated by certain distinct synth or prerecorded sounds. Most interesting though were his backing vocals, which rarely consisted of him actually singing lyrics. From guttural breathing sounds, to high register backups, to whistling, to Beach Boys style layered “aahh, aah, ahhh”-ing, he was doing it all.

To compliment Chapmans voice, the muting drumming from the third Nurse James gives the band a much needed human feel they never could have achieved using a simple drum machine. This balance of digital and human sounds I’ve decided is part of why I like this band so much, and thankfully,  live the sampling never seemed too much or overwhelming the precise humanity of this band.

The half hour set seemed too short by far, but in the end, every song sounded as good as expected, and better than I had hoped in most cases. I can’t remember the last time I’ve obsessed over a band like this, and to have them be so good live in a DIY setting like this, well that just seals it in my mind. I’m happy to agree with a panel of qualified judges that Nurses is definitely one of THE bands to watch out of Portland right now.

Nurses debut album Apple’s Acre arrives August 4th on Dead Oceans.

Nurses ::: Photo by Abbey

Nurses ::: Photo by Abbey

Flickr: Nurses, Violets and Groves at the South Pole in Seattle, June 12, 2009