Mellow and eloquent singer-songwriter, Chris Riffle performed an excellent show at The Living Room in New York City on Thursday. New Yorkers filled up the inviting music venue for an hour of beautiful and engaging songs. Riffle was accompanied on stage by performers, Jimi Zhivago (guitar, bass, and organ), Miranda Zickler (backup vocals), and Julie Kent (cellist). With high ceilings and hanging colored glass lamps, the space’s artistic ambience seemed to embrace Chris Riffle’s performance with beckoning arms. Each song performed by Riffle was done with sweet sincerity and quiet elegance that is achieved by so few. His songs are simple, so each instrument whether it was voice, cello, or guitar, had it’s moment to shine. Consequently, this is all apart of Chris Riffle’s attention to detail and objective to allow each listener to hear the quality of every instrument.  All this I learned by sitting down with Chris and having a very engaging conversation with him.

After his performance, Chris and I got to talk for quite some time. I learned a lot about the nature loving folk musician, and found out that his writings are largely influenced by his Pacific Northwest upbringing.  According to Riffle, his childhood was filled with “mountains, tree, building forts, and camping in the woods.” At the age of two, Chris’ parents divorced, leaving him to shuffle back and forth between city and mountain life. While Chris’ mom lived in the more city-like Mt. Vernon (a small city 1 hour north of Seattle), he spent much of his time in the mountain region that inspired his simplistic sound.

At a young age Chris’ folksy father was one of the first people to leave an impression on him. With nothing but an acoustic guitar, Chris’ father used this as a main source of entertainment in their one room cabin in the woods. In it there was no running water or electricity, so an acoustic guitar was a fitting and organic choice. As we talked about those times, a fond expression masked Chris Riffle’s face. He recalled a time when playing in the woods, and embracing the nature’s playground was apart of the simple pleasures in life. While in his father’s care he was also exposed to music like Donovan, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, and Fleetwood Mac. When I asked Chris what his Top 5 desert island album picks would be I could tell that he was not only excited by this question, but wanted to give a very thoughtful answer. His response was the both folky and mellow, but a bit surprising.  He named Nick Drake’s Way to Blue, Leonard Cohen’s Song’s Of, Kristin Allen-Zito’s The Atlas,  Bjork’s  Homogenic, and Nina Simone’s Here Comes The Sun as his ultimate picks.

It is no surprise that Chris has covered Donovan’s “Catch The Wind” on his latest album Introducing… Although Riffle’s version seems to include a bit more instrumentation, his take on it sticks closely to the original. We spoke about his style of music and it is his intention not to inundate the ears with with too much noise.  Chris says that he “loves the individual sounds of instruments, and I really love to hear them play out in each song.” From watching Chris Riffle play, it was evident that he is purposefully minimal when it comes to songwriting.  At no point in the night did the music feel overwhelming, and I believe the rigid NY audience was put at ease by Riffle’s folky sounds.

Although most of what Riffle played was mellow, one song in particular that really stood out was “To a Dream”. A bit more edgier then what we have heard from Introducing…, “To a Dream” has a rhythm that most of Riffle’s other songs lack. Not that Riffle’s other work is rhythm-less, but this song in particular has a catchy thump. One should not think pop-music-dancehall  but more of a sensual slow drone that is one part low-fi, and another part radio-ready.  The lusty beating heart rhythm of the bass really puts into perspective how Riffle is beginning to allow his residence in New York City affect his songwriting. While most of his work was written on the West Coast, this song, “To a Dream” was written while he was here in New York City.  The song was definitely a crowd pleaser, and will be appearing on his upcoming EP.  If “To a Dream” is a reflection of what’s to come, then exciting things are indeed in store for Riffle.

Riffle’s performance we undoubtedly beautiful. His accompaniment with cello, bass, and backup vocals were a tasteful touch to his simplistic stylings. Many of the songs performed from Introducing sound very similar to the recorded version’s despite the fact that Riffle was not playing with a full band. Much of the performance had a very even keel tempo and tone. Some could argue that there should be more conflict or tension to his songs song’s but after speaking with Chris I realize that is not what his music is about.  It is about passion, love, beauty, and our ability to adapt our human heart to a very modern world.