Uploaded to Aural Innovations: September 2005
This was a special Thursday night concert at Dragens Hule. I had never seen the Swedish band Siena Root, so this was going to be a pleasure. There were not that many people (less than 50) but it was a cool night. It was suppose to start at 8, but as usual the first band did not even start until 9:45. AU is a strange band from Malmö. It is a weird mix of samples, female spoken words and folk music. They were quite interesting. Next up was The Kretz. I had no idea what to expect but the synth player had a poly800 and a micromoog so that was a good start. They were an instrumental 4 piece band with synth, bass, drums and hurdy gurdy (with lots of effects like distortion, delay and wah). I was pretty blown away by these guys. It got very hypnotic at times like old CAN, which I like a lot. Excellent stuff.
Next up was Siena Root and I was surprised that they did not have the male singer who also played Hammond. Anyway, the band continues as a three piece with a guest female vocalist. The band opened with a really cool sitar jam. They had a really excellent drummer. Next up the guitarist switched from sitar to Hammond organ and they had another jam. Finally, he picked up his main instrument, the guitar, and it was time for full on 70's blues-psychedelic rock! The female singer, whom I can't remember her name, was excellent and very bluesy at times. The band really jammed and had great grooves and cool songs. The bass player had a drum solo on a djembe with the drummer which was really cool. I had to leave at 1 as I had to work in the morning but they were still playing. Great show. I hope to catch them again.
Visit the Siena Root web site at: http://www.sienaroot.com.
Reviewed by Scott Heller