Unburdened and relaxed

You know what's cooler than listening to a cd in your car?

Having the actual artist playing in the back seat!

At least, that's the premise of the Black Cab Sessions. A website that pretty much does what it says on the tin. A modern updating of field recordings. A musician sits in the back of a black cab and plays one of their songs while being driven around. Some music takes you on a metaphorical journey. These sessions take you on a very literal one. The world passes by outside the window. Pedestrians go about their business. Cars weave in and out of view. The camera panning from the musician inside to world beyond the confines of the cab. Barely anyone outside the black cab looks in. They remain completely unaware of what is happening inside the vehicle passing them by or standing next to them in traffic.

Each performance seems low key. The bizarre location seemingly relaxing the performers. Despite everything going on around them, they appear to get completely lost in the music. Almost oblivious to the fact that you're watching. It's a great idea resulting in incredibly intimate performances. Limited by the confines of the location, the songs are wittled down to their barest forms. Raw, fragile and naked to the elements around them. Filmed on a single hand held camera from the perspective on a fellow passenger, each video really throws you into the heart of the performance. At times, such as Bill Callahan's journey, it results in an awkward feeling of invasion of privacy.

There's currently 23 sessions online at Black Cab Sessions with more to come. This is the audio from three of my favourites. Wonderful performances complete with traffic noise in the background. The Cold War Kids track is currently unreleased. Bill Callahan's song comes from this year's 'Woke On A Whaleheart' and the highly recommended Seasick Steve performance is also of an unreleased track.

Cold War Kids - dreams old men dream (black cab session)

Bill Callahan - river guard (black cab session)

Seasick Steve - chiggers (black cab session)

mp3 / music / black cab sessions / cold war kids / bill callahan / seasick steve