In the course of just a couple albums, Faye Webster has proven herself as a rock-solid source of thoughtful indie-alt music. Every release has seen her tweak the formula just a bit, including this year’s Underdressed at the Symphony, which she’ll support via a just-announced tour that will bring her to the Riverside Theater on March 10.
Webster — and her fans — will have a comfortable familiarity with the new songs after she took them around the world on an initial run that wrapped up in August. U.S. dates were few and far between on that leg, so she’ll shore up things in North America with a run of a dozen shows that includes Milwaukee toward its conclusion.
The new album figures to feature prominently in Webster’s late-winter journey, giving a different set of audiences a chance to hear live versions of what Pitchfork’s Arielle Gordon called “a record about hiding — from heartbreak, from fame — that, whether through vocal processing or omission, fittingly obscures Webster from view.”
It was a fascinating choice that went against the current state of the world, which seems to be in “share everything” mode all of the time. It also jives with Webster’s general way of going about her daily life that informed the album’s title.
“Going to the symphony was almost like therapy for me,” she explained in a release. “I was quite literally underdressed at the symphony because I would just decide at the last moment that that's what I wanted to do. I got to leave what I felt like was kind of a shitty time in my life and be in this different world for a minute.”
Webster will give you a brief glimpse into her existence at the Riverside Theater show March 10 that goes on sale first through an eMember presale at noon this Thursday (password: HARAMBEE), and a general sale at 10 a.m. the following day online and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices.
