Tin Hat, live at the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA, 2/2/07

The last time I saw Tin Hat they were still a trio.  Since that time, multi-instrumentalist Rob Burger has left, leaving guitarist Mark Orton and violinist Carla Kihlstedt to recruit not one, but three new band members - Ara Anderson (trumpet, baritone horn, piano, pump organ, toy piano, celeste), Ben Goldberg (various clarinets), and Zeena Parkins (harp).
For this show at the Freight they were minus Zeena Parkins, but that's okay because they still had one more band member than the last time I saw them.  The old-fashioned coffee-house vibe of the Freight was perfect for their odd blend of jazz and folk.  At times their music reminds me of early film soundtracks, with the wackiness of Anderson pushing the sounds into cartoon soundtrack territory.  Carla's trumpet violin, which she also uses to great effect when playing with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, was especially impressive, sounding like it should be listened to on a victrola.  Actually, it sort of resembles a victrola. 
The real treat of the evening was when Nils and Matthias from Sleepytime, along with a viola player whose name I forget, joined Tin Hat on stage for Daisy Bell, sung beautifully by Carla.  A good night out.