When singer/songwriter (and recent Seattle transplant) Gregory Paul first started putting out proper albums in the mid-90s, he appeared to be on track towards finding his voice as a pop-rock tunesmith working in the bright, radio-geared idiom of the day. At the time, his love for experimental noises and textures was only evident via his primitive homemade cassette recordings that date back to the late 80s . Slowly but surely, Paul kept fusing his experimental sensibilities to his hooks until they began to sound natural together. Eventually, he arrived at a seamless, utterly unique blend that owes as much to modernist composers like Steve Reich and Brian Eno (and even My Bloody Valentines Kevin Shields) as to the songwriting giants of folk and pop. In his more recent work, including his latest album, This Side of the Ground, Paul stirs heavy doses of traditional American roots music into the mix, though it would be wrong to confuse him with the hordes of rock musicians on the bus to Americana-ville. Pauls work cuts deeper than that direct to the bottomless well of sorrow that permeates the land beneath our feet, perhaps just waiting for his soft wail to set it free. SABY REYES-KULKARNI
Sat., Sept. 26, 10 p.m., 2009
