TBA:06 THE WORKS

HOLCOMBE WALLER

“...Loverboy’s got the crazy-beautiful, four-octave voice of an androgynous seraph. Waller renders songs of romantic holocaust with a nakedness that can’t be taught and a vocal weirdness—all tweaky phrasing and curlicues—that can’t be bought.” —Kate Sullivan, SPIN Magazine

Portland’s Holcombe Waller has been writing, recording and performing music for the past 15 years. After studying art at Yale, he went on to release three albums on his own label, which have won the acclaim of critics and publications including Anne Powers, Spin and Paste Magazines, and TimeOut Chicago and New York. Holcombe has performed at such venues as Lincoln Center and Joe’s Pub (NY), Great American Music Hall (SF) and in Portland at Doug Fir and Mississippi Studios. This past year he has shared bills with Feist, Bob Mould, The National, Nicolai Dunger, Clem Snide, Laura Veirs, Mike Jorgensen (of Wilco), Mia Doi Todd, and many others. Holcombe’s songwriting combines personal introspection with political commentary and allegory, an understated reflection on the American political condition. Willamette Week called his latest album, 2005’s Troubled Times, “the best new music of 2005, period.”

His recent theatrical appearances include One—The Musical, Scott Kelman’s Tao Soup, and various performances by Sissyboy. Holcombe’s PICA appearance will feature long-time friend and musical collaborator Ben Landsverk, as well as a host of guest performers moving through a libretto-like series of songs and stories that rework the contemporary concept of “news media” into ritualized performance.

Drums: Josh Hodges (of Sexton Blake)
Vocals, Keyboards, and Percussion: Portland's own Rachel Taylor Brown
And members of the Music Population Orchestra:
Cellos: Tony Rogers (of The Ahs) and Julia Oh
Viola: Kelly Meyer
Violins: Max Voltage (of The Accidental String Quartet), May Wang, and Candace Lapp