Vetiver released their first, self titled album in 2004, and released their fourth album, “Tight Knit” this year. Originally from San Francisco, Vetiver is led by front man Andy Cabric, who was joined by four other musicians at the Casbah show, including a female keyboard player. When I was listening to their music before the show, I thought it was nice and especially liked the song “Miles Apart” which is on their Myspace page, but not on any of their albums. I thought it sort of had that new age hippie sound, which most people call folk, and I was reminded of the band Gomez. There’s a lot of music going on, but the overall affect is pleasant and twirly.

Seeing them live definitely affirmed my suspicion that they were hippies. They looked like they could be permanently standing under the Haight and Ashbury sign. However, that’s not to say they were dirty hippies; in fact, watching them live reminded me a lot of Paul Simon. Andy Cabric had an honest, yet playful, personae and a great voice to match. I really enjoyed the song “Sister,” it had a lounge-y, ethereal, ambient sound. I also liked a song they wrote about their favorite bar in the Mission District. I imagine their sound perfectly captures a essence of a distinct population in San Francisco today. There was a lot of soul to the music, but also a lot of incense. While the crowd was mostly 20 somethings in the latest fedora & girls wearing man vests, there were also a few people in the crowd who actually lived to experience the hippie era. One lady in her 50’s had short black hair, with one chunk dyed turquoise, and was dressed like a 20 something with a scarf that she used as a prop while she danced in the front. She was there by herself and twirling and twisting, making me feel like I was at a concert at a park somewhere San Francisco, rather than the Casbah in San Diego. Vetiver commented on how the crowd was definitely the biggest they’d had at the Casbah, and they were touring after just having done SXSW. Definitely a class act, with a lovely sound, but not a personal favorite.