Ryan Adams, the return of the singer-songwriter

Ryan Adams

Roseland Theater

all ages

Like an Americana version of the Northwest’s own Microphones, Ryan Adams is so prolific that it can be downright frustrating. As his musical output is regulated by the bosses at Universal Records, there is no telling how much of Adams’ material remains unreleased. He has been known to play entire sets of songs written the afternoon of the show and, in the year since his breakthrough album Gold, is rumored to have four albums worth of songs recorded, not to mention a tape covering every song from the Strokes’ Is This It?

����� ��At Adams’ upcoming performance, don’t expect the glam-country of Gold or the rambling folk-rock of his debut Heartbreaker. Instead, expect the unexpected. There is no telling which of his songs will end up on the upcoming record, which will land in a vault to be released in the distant future as anthology bonus tracks or a “lost sessions” collection, and which will float off the stage into the air, lost to the world forever.

While such a performer is a godsend to bootleggers, the tragedy of these lost songs adds a whole new dimension to the idea of the live rock performance. Rather than churning out the songs like a humanoid phonograph, Adams creates a situation of intimacy with his off-the-cuff style of both songwriting and presentation. Like the rare friend whose drink-induced epiphanies are truly revelatory and who will never remember them in the morning, Adams gives the listener the unique responsibility of caretaker for these songs and ideas. He records these songs onto his audiences every night, leaving behind a record of his music more personal and intimate than could be achieved in a studio setting.

Also appearing with Adams is Canadian folk duo Tegan & Sara. To run quickly through the biographical, the ladies are identical twin sisters and quite young. They both write songs, and they sing very nicely with one another, like one would expect sisters to. Musically, they cover territory that one would expect of two young women with guitars, but are stylistically eclectic enough to be interesting. The Ani DiFranco references come easily and I will even pretend to cough and mutter “Alanis” under my breath, but these comparisons are not fair to the group. The young group fortunately lacks the jaded outlook of Morissette and isn’t overly concerned with proving some vague point like DiFranco seems to be. Other influences creep into their style as well. A little early-’80s power-pop, a little Magnetic Fields, and some other surprising influences keep Tegan & Sara’s sound from seeming homogenized and hold the attention of their growing audience.