Safe Boating Is No Accident at the Meadowlark

We don't know if the members of this quartet were imagining what it must have been like to be inside Noah's head as he built the Ark, or if they were having a private giggle at the cosmic joke of the journeys of Odysseus following the Trojan War. Whatever inspired...

By Tom Murphy

February 26, 2009

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We don't know if the members of this quartet were imagining what it must have been like to be inside Noah's head as he built the Ark, or if they were having a private giggle at the cosmic joke of the journeys of Odysseus following the Trojan War. Whatever inspired their moniker, Safe Boating Is No Accident (due at the Meadowlark on Thursday, February 26) sounds a bit like George Gershwin trying his hand at indie folk with a little help from Lou Reed and Pete Seeger. Gentle rhythms and filigrees of clarinet characterize the outfit's songs, yet none of its material seems the product of mellowed sensibilities. Leighton Peterson's easygoing vocals are deceptively relaxing, because there's something inherently subversive and sly about his delivery. Safe boating is indeed no accident, and neither is this band's rustic charm.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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