Stepping in from the gray, on-and-off pouring outside, 7th Street Entry was already filled with a shadow. It was a sort of warm darkness, lifted by the corners of light throughout, that the hundred to two hundred-ish person crowd filled when Scarlet Rae stepped on stage. Immediately, the black pickguard highlighted with the yellow trace of a hummingbird dipped into a flower stood out to me on the likewise black acoustic Rae wielded for the night. In that same moment, a focused silence suddenly took over the room. Rae looked down into the mic before starting the set, let the crowd know that they were “really quiet,” and broke everyone with a laugh by punctuating with “that’s awesome.”

The set started off intimately (a feeling that pervaded the entire night from that point on) with just the guitar and Rae. Quickly, an array of pedals– which may or may not have included (some more certain than others) harmonizer, looper, booster, overdrive, a granular delay/pitch shifter, and others I could inaccurately guess at or leave to the imagination-- came into play and pushed the depth of sound. Towards the end, the songs got decked out even further with some powerful drum loops. Unanimous applause was followed by thanks to the crowd and sound engineer (John, I don’t know you but you’re a killer) before she admitted a vocal polyp which was insane to me given the travelling, on-point vocal performance.

The crowd settled back and Mendez eventually pushed through the curtains hiding the hall to the green room. He gave the crowd a brief hello off the mic and once again this complete silence overtook the room as soon as Mendez’s hand got near his guitar. Right next to me, the sound of ice clashing back and forth in my buddy’s cup took the place of a pin dropping. The next thing to break the silence was the green-sweatshirted Mendez leading into “Sunsick.” Stunning beauty and, once again no word is truer, intimacy were immediately apparent and captivating.

Unlike Scarlet Rae, Mendez never added any names to the sound entry list other than his voice and raw acoustic. I absolutely loved this choice as it led to my highlights of the night– the renditions of songs that have more fleshed out productions in his studio efforts. Stripping back and allowing the lyrics to shine through, his voice skated on top of the thin ice his strumming lended songs like the (“Rev. John/”-less) “Friend” or later on the new personal favorite “I Wanna Feel Pretty” a new emotional gravity. Don’t get me wrong: I love the studio efforts of Mendez and those versions of the songs. But, these live renditions felt exactly like the venue– up close and personal with nothing really in the way.

The crowd looked to be loving every song and mostly stood variably still or nodded along with one sentinel of dance on the far side from me. That rapid and pumped dancing played back with and against Mendez perfectly whenever I glanced. He broke between songs to speak on the venue, give thanks, and let the audience know about the “hot dog wrapped in bacon” sloshing around in his stomach. Mendez walked off with “Maria” and then came back to walk off again with “Clearer Picture (of You).” Lights went up and I walked out to the most unexpected, still setting light and realized it was one of the shorter touring act shows I’d been to. The music lasted a bit more than an hour and a half but packed a punch that made it feel well above. I mean, I really expected a pitch black exit.

Photos: Maria Arriola 
Show Review: Quinn Donegan