Photo by Blaine Schultz
The Silos at Anodyne December 7, 2023
The Silos at Anodyne December 7, 2023
Performing as a drummer-less quartet, Walter Salas-Humara led the “Midwest lineup” of The Silos through a set of deep cuts with plenty of backstory introductions at Anodyne on Wednesday night.
The fact that drummer Gerald Dowd had a gig on late night network television didn’t stop The Silos from coming up with imaginative interpretations of the band’s material. Taken another way, this was a show you will not likely see again.
Salas-Humara’s songwriting talent was evident from the band’s earliest days in the mid ‘80s. He continues to refine short stories put to folk and rock melodies. It wouldn’t be a stretch to cast his observations as a modern update on writers like Sherwood Anderson and Oscar Lewis. “Commodore Peter” and a pin-drop take on “Margaret” balanced sturdiness and mesmerizing detail, the latter song featuring a sustained electric guitar solo and Jonathan Rundman’s mandolin riffs.
In fact, Rundman opened the evening performing solo and included his version of “Diner by the Train,” the song he co-wrote with Salas Humara which feels like another chapter in an ongoing saga of characters. A musical Swiss Army knife, Rundman performed his set on acoustic guitar and later played concertina, Wurlitzer piano and harmonic as well as mandolin.
Last year’s album Family took stock of Salas-Humara’s career and the many collaborations. On Wednesday he picked and chose from that album; played a pair of songs that referenced Paris (including one that moved to surrealistic when he described it as what wild horsed in Colorado might be thinking) and borrowed a riff from the Velvet Underground.
Singing in his native tongue of Spanish or revisiting lyrics that recalled Silos bandmate, the late Drew Glackin, Salas-Humara spun the past in reverie. He also nodded to his old band The Vulgar Boatmen, singing “Good Morning Jean-Marie” as an answer to their tune “Goodnight, Jean-Marie.”
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A nod to the holidays, the band’s set included a swank take on Dean Martin’s “You Are Always in My Heart” and the brand-new song “It’s A Little Late For Christmas” describing a fourth floor NYC walkup, “Swanson TV dinner and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.” Adding a drum machine, the evening ended with “Miles Away,” the band grooving with Salas-Humara testifying at the front of the stage.
