Tonight: Communion Nashville with Tumbleweed Wanderers, Escondido, The Lonely Wild, Swear and Shake, and Torres

You should receive Communion every week. It’s good for the soul. Unfortunately, for 3 out the 4 weeks in each month, you’ll have to sit through an hour of church first, but on this, the first Thursday of the month, you can skip that and head over to The Basement and check out a host of great artists at Communion Nashville.

There’s more to the Tumbleweed Wanderers’ name than the fact that it sounds cool. These spunky Oakland, CA natives won much of their early grassroots steam by busking outside of large shows around the San Francisco Bay Area, and continue to make use of their energetic street performance know-how while “wandering” the streets of the cities they tour (check out their busk-style performance of “So Long Blues” below). This experience is very evident on the band’s 2011 debut self-titled EP, which featured tight, rootsy folk-rock that showcased the band’s potential. The band’s followup LP So Long was recorded entirely to tape and is a self-described “psychedelic journey” that “captures the band in a raw, live state reminiscent of recordings from the pre-auto-tune era.” Tumbleweed Wanderers released another EP, Worn Down Welcome, just a few days ago on April 26, so expect them to spotlight this new material tonight.

Regarding their debut album, Nashville duo Escondido says, “We wanted it to be like Clint Eastwood playing pop songs at one of the honky-tonks downtown…but we’ve been told it sounds like desert sex.” Both are pretty apt descriptions of The Ghost of Escondido, which features deliciously moody, wide-open production that belies the fact that all 10 tracks were recorded live in a single day. The mournful “Black Roses” is splendidly catchy in the sepulchral, Civil Wars type way that only a song from a male-female duo from the South can be. You may have heard it on Lightning 100 already, but if not check it out below.

Escondido aren’t the only moody Western-inspired act on the bill. LA natives The Lonely Wild “create indie music with the rabble-rousing spirit of a sea shanty, and an Ennio Morricone-style vision of the old west.” It will be interesting to see whether or not The Basement will be able to hold their expansive, cinematic sound. Check out tracks from The Sun As It Comes below.

Expect Brooklyn’s Swear and Shake to brighten the mood with spot-on indie folk-rock. They’ve been gathering momentum as of late after opening for The Lumineers, Delta Rae, and G Love & Special Sauce, as well as a somewhat non-characteristic appearance on the Rock Boat (apparently it’s not just for rednecks anymore). On their debut album Maple Ridge (named after the barn in which it was recorded), Swear and Shake are somewhere between The Lumineers and Shovels and Rope, and their radio-ready sonic signature seems destined to make a splash in the throng of indie-folk junkies who just can’t get enough banjo ‘n guitar goodness. Check out “Marbles” below.

And finally, let’s not forget special guest Torres. Torres is really Mackenzie Scott – a 22-year old Nashvillian whose debut album is a haunting lo-fi masterpiece. Check out “Honey” below and you’ll probably find yourself hoping she does more than make a guest appearance this Thursday.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/73488813″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Show starts at 8 with a $10 price tag. See you there!