Thursday was a Mark Eitzel kind of day. It's easy to imagine the San Francisco songwriter -- in town to perform at Iota with his once and current band, American Music Club -- walking the streets before the show under gray, rainy skies, bowler hat pulled low, brooding. The weather cleared by the time the group began playing, but the stage had already been set: Bassist Dan Pearson, drummer Tim Mooney and guitarist Vudi were primed to lean into Eitzel's rainy-day introspection.
Reunited behind the shimmering "Love Songs for Patriots," its first work in a decade, AMC plied its stark blend of rock, folk and country with remarkable cohesion, illuminating Eitzel's songs with an engaging locomotion that nearly matched the peak moments of the band's unjustly overlooked career. Crisp readings of new songs such as "Ladies and Gentlemen," "Job to Do," "Another Morning" and "Home" (with their alternately wrenching and lilting timbres) and the wry "Myopic Books" were the hour-plus show's main thrust.
But Eitzel ranged freely into AMC's back catalogue, pulling out "Blue and Grey Shirt," "Nightwatchman," "Mercury," "Sick of Food" and the sweeping "Johnny Mathis' Feet," whose title character Eitzel replaced with the newly reelected president.
AMC closed its encore with "Firefly" (Eitzel then ignored prolonged howls for a second) and walked off triumphant, able to step across 10 years and sound as if it had never been gone. And afterward, it was obvious Eitzel was pleased: His hat was back on, his face screwed into a sour grimace
Reviewed by Patrick Foster for The Washington Post November 6th 2004
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