On September 12, the last remaining moments of summer air (pun intended) filled the Constellation Room at The Observatory in Santa Ana. The stage, dressed with a vintage rug, a drum set, a guitar slide on a keyboard –and unassuming in the corner, speakers disguised as a white dresser with a lamp on top, was set for San Diego based duo, Little Hurricane.

Celeste “CC” Spina, sat behind the drums barefoot, as singer Anthony “Tone” Catalano stood center stage with a guitar. “Trouble Ahead,” from their 2012 debut album Homewrecker set the tone for the night- a sweaty, bluesy-folk foot stomper that encouraged the audience to dance around while drinking their whiskey and beer.

“Summer Air” from the duos second album, Gold Fever, continued with a similar rhythmic groove. While the melodic, kind of murky and bluesy music tends to be more sophisticated than the lyrics, the simplicity in their songwriting style allows the audience to get lost in the beats. “The summer air is gone but I don’t care,” boasts the chorus –though the hot temperature of the venue during Southern California’s heat wave begged to differ.

That being said, Little Hurricane still writes songs that are intimate and engaging. “Sheep In Wolves Clothes” and “Haunted Heart” tell heartbreaking stories of love and infatuation. “Boiling Water,” played towards the end of the night, is one of the bands more jazzy tunes, the lyrics emphasized by Tone’s raw grovel-y voice.

Though Tone takes the lead vocals, CC provides backing vocals throughout. Their chemistry is especially evident in tracks like “Shortbread” where the duo sing back and forth in conversation. CC’s smooth vocals sing, “Start a fire in my heart,” Tone’s gritty, scratchy tone echoes backs, “That’s what I’m trying to do.” “Hold Me Back,” also from the band’s debut album, is a short track that’s structured in the same manner. The contrast between their opposing voices blend together beautifully, making the moment where they harmonize especially powerful.

It’s hard to believe that in 2012 CC admitted to Rolling Stone that she’s “not a singer, never claimed to be a singer.” Struggling with hearing her own voice, the first year the band played she wouldn’t allow vocals in her monitors. “Ignorance is bliss,” she told the publication. Perhaps her struggle was left far behind after their sophomore album release because the woman on stage came across strong and confident as the smile on her face peaked through the hair in her face as she rocked her head back and forth to the beat she was playing.

CC took to the vocal booth as a result of Tone’s encouragement. The two came together in 2010 after CC posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a musician to work with after she reintroduced herself to drumming after some time away. Tone answered the ad, but CC didn’t respond until he sent a second email stating he used to be in a jazz band. The two went on tour together and two years later, the band came out with Homewrecker. Though that album was recorded in various places, they decided to take their recording for Gold Fever to an old house in a gold mining town. They used vintage equipment to capture their album’s swampy feel, which quite frankly, perfectly captured the spirit of wild desert California.

After playing, “Poor Me,” from their upcoming third album, the band began to wind down the night and asked the audience what they’d like to hear. A fan yelled out, “Give ‘Em Hell,” a popular song from Homewrecker which heavily features CC’s vocals. Much to the fan’s chagrin, the duo blamed their lack of mandolin and instead ended the night with a folky cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

Photography by Rosemary Vega.

The first time I ever heard Rachael Yamagata was while I was watching The OC in 2005. “Worn Me Down” was playing in the background, and I was instantly fixed on Yamagata’s raspy voice. The words, while heartbreaking, were absolutely beautiful, which is common in her music. Although I have been a fan of Rachael’s for about 8 years, her show at The Observatory on Wednesday was my first.

The venue was small and allowed for an intimacy that is missing in many shows. The stage was decorated with flowers, candles, and a large dreamcatcher, making the show feel all the more personal. Yamagata was accompanied by Michael Chaves on guitar. The duo played a good combination of new and old music, including “It’ll Do” and “Has It Happened Yet,” from her more recent EP “Heavyweight.”

The honesty in not only the words, but in her performance and delivery left the crowd speechless. The crowd, which consisted of mostly women and couples, was actually quiet and still during most of the set, except when talking to Yamagata. The show really felt like a group of friends listening to a girls tales. Yamagata would tell a story and someone in the audience would yell out a response or people would let out sighs of compassion. At one point I overheard someone say “I kind of wish I was heartbroken right now.”

Yamagata played many crowd favorites like “Be Be Your Love,” which you would probably recognize from the movie, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” and “You Won’t Let Me” from her 2011 release, “Chesapeake.” She switched up the tempo with a gritty angry girl-rock song titled “Sideish Friend.”  After the song was over she reminisced about her past and told the crowd, “It’s hard to be the other woman; I did that in my twenties. Not that I knew I was the other woman. Come on guys, stop judging me.” But statements like this just made the music feel more real since most of us have probably had the same experience. (If only we could all write such eloquent words to express our stories.)

The best part of the night was when Rachael sang “Duet,” which originally featured Ray LaMontagne. Michael Chaves took over the vocals for Michael, and together the pair sang with such heartfelt emotions, that like the person I overheard before, I wished I was heartbroken so I could relate to the music, if only to feel their emotions more. But like all shows, the night had to end, and the duo left the stage after an encore of “Faster,” which the crowd, unfortunately for me, picked over “Worn Me Down.”

Although Rachael Yamagata’s music has helped me through so many heartbreaks in the past, I always thought seeing her live would be, to be blunt, boring. But she surprised me. Even though she was fighting a cold, her voice captivated all my attention. I sipped my wine and enjoyed hearing her tragically beautiful stories in musical form, just to laugh a few minutes later while she told a funny joke or made small talk with the crowd.

You can still catch Rachael Yamagata on the last dates of her tour:
June 30, 2013 The Parish – Austin, TX
July 01, 2013 Sons of Hermann Hall – Dallas, TX
July 02, 2013 Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX
July 05, 2013 Vinyl – Atlanta, GA
July 06, 2013 Local 506 – Chapel Hill,
July 08, 2013 Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
July 09, 2013 Rams Head On Stage – Annapolis, MD
July 11, 2013 07:00 PMUnion Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
July 12, 2013 Maxwell’s – Hoboken, NJ
July 13, 2013 Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY

Photography by Rosemary Vega
[See image gallery at hollywoodtimessquare.com]