Christopher's Liver

originally published February 21, 2007

Mike White

Christopher's Liver - Laura Swindall and Christopher Ingham - is playing at Hot Corner Coffee on Friday, Feb. 23 and at the Caledonia Lounge on Monday, March 5.

Spend an inordinate amount of time downtown (like most people do), and in a short while you'll familiarize yourself with the faces of Christopher Ingham and Laura Swindall. Chris is the almost impossibly friendly bike-punk feminist with an enthusiasm for hip-hop vinyl, and Laura is the object (read: victim) of affection for innumerable Hot Corner Coffee admirers (read: stalkers). They are two of the most likeable characters around town, so it's not much of a surprise that their guitar-and-drums duo is equally enamoring.

Christopher's Liver is certainly the logical progression from Ingham's prior duo The Heroic Livers, but while the latter dished out hootenanny-ready riot anthems, the former is a sit-down affair with harmonies as intricate as they are intimate. Swindall's drumming is perfectly complementary to the delicate tunes, and moves the mood to a more idiosyncratic place by virtue of her decidedly non-rockist sensibilities.

The songs are certainly comfortable within the DIY punk element, but, as a few local twee aesthetes have noted, also harken back to the vulnerable world of the early Kindercore releases. The pair will be celebrating the release of a debut cassette tape at a Hot Corner Coffee show on Friday, Feb. 23; the release has been committed to analog in classic bedroom fashion using a Tascam Portastudio 4-track recorder. Flagpole asked Christopher's Liver some cheeky questions and got some cheeky answers.

Flagpole

Your MySpace page describes your songs as "autobiographical fiction." Explain.

Christopher's Liver

Autobiographical fiction takes elements of lived experiences and broadens them to make them more universal or accessible. It also has to do with performed or assumed identities.

Flagpole

Why the choice to perform as a two-piece?

Christopher's Liver

We were interested in sparse musical arrangements that would place the focus more on lyrics and vocal melody/ harmony. We're also kind of selfish and enjoy only the company of each other.

Flagpole

What's the worst thing about playing a house, and what's the best thing about playing a club?

Christopher's Liver

House show: when you're on tour and you get arrested for intoxicating minors with a root-beer keg. True story. Club show: being the only member of the band that drinks and getting all of Chris' beer. True story.

Flagpole

What's in store for you guys in the future?

Christopher's Liver

Tour over spring break up the coast, and making out with bearded members of Dark Meat (we know there are a few of you).

Jeff Tobias

Spotlight is a biweekly feature looking at newer or emerging local acts.