Is the Marshall Law Band Bringing Home a Pulitzer? We’ll Know on June 11 – TheStranger.com

The band's earnest eclecticism is a little more Hamilton than Kendrick Lamar. Courtesy Safe & Sound Seattle + Danny Ngan for Dan's Tunes

Over the next hour and change, the normally six-piece band configured with eight members played through most of its debut album, 12th and Pine, which distills the Seattle protests that were raging a year ago today. The band says the album is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize for Music. The awards will be given out on June 11.

Consideration for such an accolade cements the meteoric rise of the local funk-hop outfit. They found themselves in the right place at the right time when they resolved to provide an impromptu jam session soundtrack from a makeshift stage on 11th Ave across the street from Vermillion and Annex Theatre. That corner was one of the protests de facto HQs and aid stations, with teargas and flashbangs blasting just a block away. After the Seattle Police Department abandoned the East Precinct, they played CHOP itself and surfed the post-protest wave from the S.S. Jellybean, a trailer float they bought from the Fremont Arts Council. The Jellybean has provided the stage for mobile concerts across the city for the last year and this summer is posting up for regular Thursday night gigs at The Collective in South Lake Union and a Friday night residency at LTD Bar and Grill in Fremont.

Courtesy Safe & Sound Seattle + Danny Ngan for Dan's Tunes

Marshall Law Bands Pulitzer consideration for 12th and Pine sits in an obvious shadow: Kendrick Lamars DAMN. The first recording that was neither classical nor jazz to win a Pulitzer, DAMN. was a watershed moment for popular music. And while 12th and Pine performs the admirable task of resuscitating some of the hopeful idealism in the Seattle protests early days that fizzled out during a summer of destructive discontent, it can come across as overly earnest.

As Marshall Law Band shuttled from the folksy Americana twang backing One Reel to the blues rock-inflected Mercy to interludes where Richins shredded like he was in Van Halen to a Jawaiian reggae interlude with heavenly guest singer J. Moe da Bird, I couldnt decide if the band had an identity crisis or just an impressive range. My podmate finally put his finger on it: The Marshall Law Band comes from the Hamilton generation, and Hughs lyricism channels the Lin-Manuel Miranda school of telling a story through music across genres.

That theatricality made for a sharp contrast with the sparse punk riffs from opener Tres Leches. In their first post-pandemic live performance, core members Alaia D'Alessandro and Ulises Mariscal showed no signs of rustiness as they shared a stage with James Bonaci and Meg Hall from Bellinghams Beautiful Freaks. Tres Leches debuted a new song written during lockdown, Bad Kids, and cycled through other favorites like the charming earworm Nieve and the lowball fee call-out Everybodys Gonna Get $250.

Courtesy Safe & Sound Seattle + Danny Ngan for Dan's Tunes

Pioneers take risks, however, and not all of them pan out. While Safe & Sound launched with The Black Tones in late March, they fizzled for their second show and scuttled BEARAXE frontwoman Shaina Shepherd in the wake of poor ticket sales. (In a DIY triumph, Shepherd admirably cobbled together a last-minute show at Jimi Hendrix Park, yet more evidence that the park has found its footing.)

Even Saturday nights show had a few empty seats at an already reduced capacity event. So much for a frenzied, cathartic return to the precious in-person gatherings we abstained from for 15 months. We are a far cry from New Zealand, where local live music has been thriving for the last year, according to a new episode from KEXPs Sound & Vision podcast.

Courtesy Safe & Sound Seattle + Danny Ngan for Dan's Tunes

Take off your headphones, turn off Spotify, get out of the house, and go. It will be worth it.

Original post:
Is the Marshall Law Band Bringing Home a Pulitzer? We'll Know on June 11 - TheStranger.com