CONNECT RECOMMENDS  

This marks the first official local show by this female songwriter (real name: Trish Bowyer) who moved to Savannah a month ago to study graphic design and photography at SCAD. The native of Elkins, West Virginia, has been writing original music since she was fourteen, but has only begun to actively devote herself to her craft in the last five years. She became involved in home recording around 1997, and recently cut her first album in a professional studio. While it features a fully-realized band sound, most of her live gigs find her solo with only an electric/acoustic guitar.

The album Killed Her & Replaced Her is a completely DIY affair, with Pandora designing and printing the rather elaborate packaging herself, as well as financing the recording sessions. It was released a little over two months ago, and quickly sold out of its initial pressing (a second batch is promised for this concert). Basic tracks for the CD’s thirteen songs were recorded in less than ten hours, but overdubs and post-production stretched its gestation period to one year. She offered her backing musicians free reign to create their own parts, and the interaction between their often frenetic embellishments and her relatively straightforward rock arrangements makes for an intriguing combination.

Lyrically, Pandora’s material on Killed Her falls somewhere between the abstracted confessional poetry of early Janis Ian and the angst-ridden catharsis of Alanis Morrissette, with hints of the former’s mature wordplay and just a touch of the latter’s glossy commercial sheen. This show is one of the first notable bookings at the recently-opened Twilight Music Lounge, located in the basement of Daiquiris on Bay. It’s a 21 and up venue offering free shows by local acts in an informal setting.Bowyer calls the atmosphere at Twilight, with its comfy couches and subdued lighting, “very laid back” and ideal for solo performances by singer/songwriters like herself. Kindred spirit Lauren Lapointe will appear as well.