Band of the Week: Vetiver

As Andy Cabic speaks, he and the rest of his band Vetiver are pulling into New York to play two shows at Town Hall. The tour stop is in the middle of a 10-date Spring jaunt with former Jayhawk Gary Louris. Those going to the show will witness a double-header as the San Francisco pseudo-folk band opens the show and serves as Louris' backing band.

But Vetiver is no stranger to playing other people’s songs, as evidenced by its recently released (May 13) record, A Thing of the Past. The album compiles 12 covers of Cabic’s favorite tunes, mostly songs by folk artists from the '60s and '70s. “It was just an experiment with a lot of songs we’ve been playing live,” Cabic says. “It was an effort to get the people who we’ve been playing with live into the studio, and I wanted to work with my friend [producer] Thom Monahan.”

A fine idea it was. Veitver’s driving acoustic rhythms behind Cabic’s warm voice mesh perfectly with the selections, which range from Loudon Wainwright’s “The Swimming Song” to Townes Van Zandt's “Standin’,” with lesser known singer-songwriters such as Garland Jeffreys and Ian Matthews tucked in between. The songs result from a March 2007 session when the band convened in Sacramento to work with Monahan. “The whole album’s live, all the basic tracks,” Cabic says, adding that the “freedom and restraint” of doing other people’s songs instead of writing his own contributed to the natural feel of the album.

But don’t think the band’s content only playing other artist’s tunes. The Thing of the Past sessions doubled as a warm up for Vetiver’s new record of original songs, which the band began recording in April. And this time, Cabic and Co. won’t be tucked away in the studio, they’ll be out touring while they record, playing covers from Thing of the Past as well as original cuts, including songs from the upcoming album. “We’re always sort of touring and playing our own songs and covers,” Cabic reflects. “Like we did before we released a covers album.”