By the tune's fade, an eclectic assortment of audience members filled the floor and the balcony of the club. Much of the crowd was drawn by the buzz Carbon Leaf had created when opening for Weekend Excursion in September, while others were long-standing fans of the group.
In little time, Carbon Leaf's four-part vocal harmonies and wild variety of instruments drew both fresh and established fans together.
During most of the songs, guitarists Carter Gravatt and Terry Clark, bassist Jordan Medas and Privett tightly layered their voices to emit sonorous, almost metallic vibrations through the crowd.
About three songs into the set, Privett introduced an a cappella spiritual and remarked that the band was performing the piece unusually early. While the audience members near the stage craned their necks forward to imbibe the heady melody, those toward the back chattered and chuckled loudly and marred the song's pensive tone.
This was perhaps the band's only major mistake throughout its performance.
For the rest of the night, Carbon Leaf delighted the crowd with its instrumental array. Medas warmed up by chopping a bowed bass with his hands in a "Samurai Jack"-like attack and later alternated the bowed bass with a more traditional electric bass.
Privett piped a tin whistle, jangled some bells and, during one break, pulled bagpipes from atop an amp and played "Amazing Grace."
Gravatt revealed the most versatility of all the band's members, as he began the show strumming an electric mandolin but later played both electric and acoustic guitars.
As the show started, the band let Gravatt and Medas wail on their instruments with virtuosic intensity and continued to showcase these musicians' talent until the end. Gravatt's electric guitar riffs tripped brightly above the vocals, which fell silent later in the performance when Medas, in the zone, throbbed with his bass in a jazzy solo.
Bass solos, bagpipes and four-part harmonies only begin to isolate Carbon Leaf from common American rock genres. Some have tried to define the group as a Celtic rock band, but Clark instead characterized the band's music as rock -- rock with some bluegrass and Celtic influences, but basically rock.
Their music is also fun rock. During the middle of its set, the band directly involved the crowd in shouting out the lines to its arrangement of traditional nursery rhyme Mary Mac.
The audience repaid the band for their enjoyment with an impromptu chorus of "Happy Birthday" at midnight for Privett's special day. This spontaneity spoke volumes for the quality of the performance.
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The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
