Basque at the Metro Café, September 26, 2000 (Washington, DC)

Basque opened their brief set with 'Wool and Water,' a piece off
their
debut full-length CD "Radiate" that pretty much sums up their sound.
Brandt's echoed, propulsive bass with percussive clicks forms the
structure, with slight augmentation from an electric guitar;
Maryasque's crystalline voice swoops above, twisting words into pure
sound-shapes. Theirs is an unadorned sound, sparse and full of
silence. It is reminiscent of work done by Hugo Largo and Low.
Maryasque's voice is a pure soprano; like Elizabeth Frazier, she
sings
in a private language where the occasional word appears. Live, she
bridges the gap between Celtic Mouth Music and jazz scatting (by way
of Rickie Lee Jones).

Brandt sat on a stool during all of the set, slapping and tweaking
his
bass. At times it looked like he was barely touching the strings;
yet
a clearly plucked sound emerged. Other times, he was hitting the
strings, producing subtle tones. Maryasque mostly stood still with
her guitar and sang with her eyes closed. At its best, the music was
hypnotic. The shortness of the set helped with one of the music's
pitfalls-much of the material is similar and skirts the edges of
monotony.
--Craig