Review: Dave Harrington and opener Nicole McCabe fill Zebulon with artistic sounds

Dave Harrington, Zebulon, and Secret Fires LA collaborated on a 3 Sunday residency during July. I always appreciate how Zebulon will explore what I call the more artsy side of music. I was only able to attend the last residency night, but I know that for each night Harrington had a different line-up of musicians supporting him. For the last night of the residency, his band was a quartet that included Kosta Galanopoulos on drums, Robert Walter on organ keys, and Spencer Zahn on bass. Harrington himself was on guitar and synths. I call his sound art music, because I'm not sure how else to describe it. I wouldn't say that the jazz label fits. 

Dave Harrington at Zebulon

A solid crowd showed up with people up close to the stage. You might think for a non-rock punk pop set that people who be hanging off away from the stage, but you would be wrong. 

How would I describe the art sound?

Dave Harrington at Zebulon

One song had the feel of a 70s neo-noir thriller like Gene Hackman's The Conversation. The drum beats sped the music along while the organ created a sense of suspense around the paranoia of surveillance in the movie. A second song gave the feeling of laying out on a field of grass and watching the clouds drift by while chewing on a long blade of grass. A third song had a mix of European experimental music with undertones of Middle Eastern influences that had me thinking I was in some underground foreign club where smoking is still allowed and you know you'll be walking out smelling like cigarettes. For the final song, opening act Nicole McCabe (on saxophone) was brought up on stage along with three other musicians. A saxophone duet opened it up with sounds of city traffic. 

Nicole McCabe at Zebulon

As for McCabe's opening set, she played a saxophone set with backing tracks. Per her bio, she keeps herself busy teaching at Loyola Marymount University, mentoring at Cal State Northridge, and teaching at public schools across Los Angeles. Let's hit up the movies again. I recently saw the movie Round Midnight (1986) that starred saxophonist Dexter Gordon. Though McCabe played the saxophone at a much quicker beat than Gordon did in that movie, it still had me making that connection.