A half-written review that I never sent in.... to cover up my last post

Here at How Was The Show, Jeremy Messersmith has made multiple appearances in our reviews for about a year now. I could have just commited his performance at the Uptown Bar Saturday to my memory only, but I feel the overwhelming urge to share. His album, The Alcatraz Kid has been out since September of last year, but I have become acquainted with it in the past couple months, and since then I've continued to listen to it constantly - obsessively almost. This is my album of right now. A few weeks back, in the week of snowstorms, I found myself leaving work early, the roads terrible, but I was excited - filled with that old grade school feeling you get when you get sent home in inclement weather. A Current DJ, reading my mind from afar played Jeremy's song "Snow Day," and I sat in the car at the Lake/Excelsior stoplight, singing my best cover version. It almost freed me from the shackles of winter, and well, helped me decide that an actual snow day was in order the following day.

Jeremy Messersmith can make a choir appear within moments, using great musical ingenuity. He can also mesmerize a 9:30 Uptown crowd. I made it a point to arrive early, having missed him open at the Current's Listener Appreciation party by mere moments. And even arriving early, all the tables and booths were taken and people had already started peppering the area in front of the stage. I made sure to get up front right away, something I don't typically do. It was just him and his guitarist. A two man band-slash-orchestra. Messersmith was recording his beats by tapping his guitar a few times, and then he would loop it and go right into a song. It made me grin from ear to ear, to see it all coming together like that. My fellow patrons and I stood spellbound before him, his delicate yet strong voice making itself known.

I admire his songwriting. The Alcatraz Kid has eleven songs on it. Every single one of them has a polish and a shine on them. The lyrics lead me to think of lost innocence, dealing with being a grown up, mixed in with a haunting feeling of loneliness. It's a winter album in all kinds of ways, not just because it's got that "Snow Day" track. Not just because it was my winter album obsession. Because it's delicate and complements the heavy-hearted, and at the same time it has these hopeful undertones, in preparation for spring.