Jaded Reviews

She Swings, She Sways @ Balloons Over the Mississippi

***WARNING*** Click the following link at your own risk. It contains auto-play muzack. I hate that! Don’t say I didn’t warn you…..

She Swings, She Sways was the house band on hand at the 7th Annual Balloons Over the Mississippi celebration on July 18th. They touted themselves as Americana/Pop/Folk and I believe that to be the perfect description of their sound.

An odd compilation of characters, this band included a stand up Bass player, an accordion, a trumpet and a mandolin. At any given point you weren’t sure exactly what you were going to get. The three front men wore flannel shirts and jeans while the drummer and the rhythm guitar player wore t-shirts and baseball caps. The one female of the group played keyboard and the trumpet was dressed up, albeit tastelessly. The awkward way that she used a huge sparkly purple scarf to cover up the front her “over the top” of a bolero style black jacket was distracting. A beautiful girl, with a fantastic voice, really needs a personal stylist. Or, follow in the footsteps of the front men. Don a cute flannel top, a pair of jeans and high heels.

Their music was quite melancholy. I didn’t realize that Americana/Pop/Folk had to be so depressing.

If they had removed a few members of the band, I could see them fitting in quite nicely performing at some high end yuppie-style coffee shop between poetry readings in Chicago. It wasn’t until they began doing covers, such as 4 Non Blonds “What’s Up” that they began to grab my attention. Their original music (of which you can purchase at their website) did not whet my pallet on any level. Their commentary between songs was supposed to be humorous and down to earth I believe, however, once again they missed their mark. It was borderline idiotic rambling that got annoying pretty quickly. Their inside jokes that anyone not living in their “band house” wouldn’t get isn’t something that a general audience is going to bite and run with and really should be saved for nights of beer drinking around their table together.

However, the did have swag and plenty of it. From cd’s to t-shirts to buttons. They even had a sheet to sign up for their mailing list.

They are trying. Maybe we’ll see them around sometime. I would be interested to see if they grow or if this band is stagnant in their sway.