Live Friday: 11-06-09

When Pedro the Lion broke up a couple years ago, I figured it was more a function of just general disagreements between band members rather than something larger. See, it turns out that David Bazan felt like he couldn't continue the band anymore as he was experiencing a crisis of faith. He had also started drinking quite a bit, and given the very Christian nature of Pedro the Lion, it became necessary for him to take some time away from music in general. Bazan has since gotten his alcohol abuse under control, and now calling himself an agnostic, recorded an album under his own name that was titled "Curse Your Branches," which came out earlier this year. It's a pretty great album, though I didn't have an opportunity to review it when it came out.

So for this week's Live Friday, I'm featuring Bazan playing some songs off his new album with his backing band. He stopped by the WXPN studios while out playing a large number of house shows solo. Basically that means he was playing to tiny crowds in actual houses with just an acoustic guitar and no sound equipment. That's an interesting way of going about things, and more power to him for playing shows like that. But in addition to the great songs he does in this session, there's a lot of discussion in the interview about Bazan's faith issues and how that's affected his life and music. It's really interesting stuff, so if you've got some time to listen to it, click the streaming link below. Otherwise just download the songs, which are good as well.

David Bazan, Live on WXPN 10-16-09:
David Bazan- When We Fell [alt]
David Bazan- Curse Your Branches [alt]
David Bazan- Bless This Mess [alt]
David Bazan- In Stitches [alt]

Stream the entire interview/performance

Buy "Curse Your Branches" from Amazon

Labels: david bazan, Live, pedro the lion