Aldous Harding at The Neptune September 26, 2026

A full moon night, auspicious for Aldous Harding, whose serenade was fitting, Saturn in conjunction. She’s weird, in the best sense of the word, like bumper sticker weird, aka keep Ballard weird. She’s a needed remedy for the alts, because weird people need weird icons, and she brings an uncanny, iconic energy, in the most likable, gracious way, taking the audience in with her. Packed house at the Neptune, full of love, total silence while she tuned between each song, other than shouts of “We love you!” Indeed, much Seattle nerd-geek-weirdo positive vibes sent her way.

The sound was great in the Neptune – everything sat where it should in the mix, crisp and EQ’d lovingly. The instrumentation changed constantly, mixing up the sonorities, such that the ear didn’t become inured and then bored. Some pieces with pedal steel, some with a harp, sometimes electronic drums and sometimes live drums, sometimes vocal harmonies and sometimes not. The variance was intentional, serving the song and its particular groove and trance. Each song she sang cast a certain spell, each its own odyssey. One song in 9/8.

Most of the tunes from her new album, Train on the Island. Gotta say they made more sense performed live. The music was less soporific, more full. Not sure why they don’t hit quite the same recorded. Maybe its also because she’s mesmerizing to watch, unpredictable, not to mention her awkward dancing. See this video of “One Stop”:

Yes, she’s original and different, but one can trace the anxiety of influence if one chooses, the obvious being The Velvet Underground, who she name-checks on “One Stop” in her shout-out to John Cale. She also has a song called “Venus In The Zinnia” so there’s that. Amazing how the VU influence persists, generation after generation who are drawn to the VU mystique.

There’s others influenza: David Byrne or Kate Bush or even label-mates The Pixies (4AD yo!) with Frank Black’s “scream of consciousness.” Remember how weird The Pixies once were and how they were adored as such?

But all these influences, all the weirdos through the years, they’re old and not so weird anymore, or their weirdness has been canonized. She’s a new weirdo, someone of the now, who makes music that hypnotizes with its own yawp.

Opening was Sam Burton on acoustic guitar playing duo with another player on a twelve string, singing harmony. They filled the space, all those plucks and strums enveloping The Neptune with overtones and harmonics, under the milky way fersure. Shout out to whoever was playing lead on the twelve string, no easy feat.