Erin Ivey

Erin Ivey

With no overdubs, no errant pitches daubed out, and without usual backing band the Finest Kind, Erin Ivey's live debut, Dreamy Weather, shines as a bare-bones performance. Recorded at the Cactus Cafe in January, the local chanteuse invited guitarist RyDogg Johnson as her sole accompaniment, and together the duo stills even as it invigorates. Revisiting choice material from 2011 breakout Broken Gold as Ivey introduces new songs, even the familiar takes on a new outlook. The Gallic "Chocolate," chipped out of the original's dub overtones, becomes a seductive ballad as rich as its namesake, while freshly penned "Oh, Light" drifts in warm chords, light and airy despite its lyric forecast of inevitable endings, an idea furthered in stunner "Separational." In each of Dreamy Weather's nine tracks, Ivey's material readies for both the packed concert halls and a barefoot, back porch concert. By exposing herself to blemishes, Erin Ivey achieves near perfection.