joanna-kunin.jpgBALLARD, April 3, 2008 —

Inside a nondescript house in Ballard is an amazing, old upright piano: five feet tall, ornate woodwork and, most memorably, dual mounted candelabras straddling the keyboard. It’s the centerpiece for tonight’s entertainment, a living room show featuring Portland singer-songwriter, artist and surfer Little Wings, and locals Johanna Kunin and Your Heart Breaks.

From the outside, the house looked like any other on the block. As we approached, checking the address, we met with two other would-be concert-goers who looked as confused as we did. “Do we go in the front door or through the garage? Should we knock?”

Inside there is already a small crowd, sipping drinks and milling around the living room, a long, narrow space lined with couches and pillows facing a couple microphones and chairs placed in front of the piano. The stage. We’re graciously invited to help ourselves to a spread of food on the back kitchen counter and a keg of Maritime Pacific beer in the basement.

Everyone finds a spot on the floor as the first performer plays some simple folk songs in an open tuning, slapping his guitar with his left hand and tapping his foot as he sings and hums along. The young, slightly nervous guy with glasses and an acoustic guitar plays a handful of songs, getting the willing audience to clap and sing along, mumbling his name and some thank-you’s in between songs.

Next up is Your Heart Breaks. On record, the band includes Karl Blau and Steve Moore, but tonight, it’s just the lead woman Clyde playing solo. She is thin and lanky, wears a short hair cut with thick-rimmed glasses, and she is hilarious. Clyde plays some spare, lyrically-rich pop songs backed by the gentle strumming of her electric guitar. They are delightful and laugh-inducing, but not because they are Flight of the Conchords-style parodies or outlandish comedy-album fodder. Clyde’s songs, rather, are charmingly personal; she relates wild anecdotes with top-notch comedic delivery. The crowd is loving it, hanging on Clyde’s every word and laughing non-stop.

After a stretch break (sitting on hardwood floors makes for some stiff joints), Johanna Kunin takes a seat at the piano, lit by candlelight. Despite the piano being slightly out of tune–”a half-step low,” as Kunin notices–she puts on a powerful, hypnotic show to a hushed, attentive audience, backing her striking vocals with capable piano accompaniment. It’s magical, intimate in a way even the most-compelling club performance couldn’t rival, although I find myself wishing I had seen her recent show at the Sunset with a nine-person band. So minimally presented, her songs more than stand on their own; I can only imagine how they would sound with a full backing band.

While Kunin’s set shines in the casual, house show atmosphere, Little Wings’ performance suffers. Jovial and wasted, Kyle Field sits at the piano, ad-libbing to what seems to be mostly improvised piano. There are scattered moments of hilarity separated by long, awkward moments, like when the K Records artist turns around to switch from piano to guitar, moves his chair, and adjusts the microphone, then, before playing a note, changes his mind, puts the guitar down and goes back to the piano. Or when a wasted guy in the audience jokes about challenging him to a fight. Halfway through Field’s response, he goes from joking (”I got my posse here”) to unexpectedly serious (”Just let me play my songs”). After a long stretch of stopping in the middle of songs and veering off on rambling tangents, Field pulls it together and makes it through a couple songs backed by acoustic guitar. But half the audience has already trickled out, and many of those remaining are ready to leave. To Field’s credit, this is a house show; it’s supposed to be a casual, drunken affair. But my friend nails it when he describes the set as “kind of a trainwreck.”

My Heart Breaks is playing a couple more house shows before touring England, Ireland and Scotland with Kimya Dawson. Or you can catch her in July at Anacortes’ What the Heck Fest. (See her MySpace for tour dates.) Check out Johanna Kunin’s website and MySpace for details on upcoming shows and her album Clouds Electric. See Little Wings’ website for cryptic drawings, or K Records for tour dates and other factual info.

PHOTO: Johanna Kunin, courtesy of KuninSpace