Vetiver

Vetiver arose from the earthy yet inquisitive songcraft of frontman Andy Cabic, landing among the first acts swept up in the freak folk wave thanks to close Bay Area links with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Over time Cabic’s writing gradually broadened, folding electronic and rock textures into its originally traditional folk base, a shift fully audible on the 2015 album Complete Strangers as the group at last locked in a steady roster.

Cabic entered music through the D.I.Y. indie-rock circuit, launching Raymond Brake in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, in the early 1990s. That band’s loud, Sonic Youth-flavored indie rock slotted naturally into both the Chapel Hill art-punk world and the influential Washington, D.C. label Simple Machines, which put out the debut album Piles of Dirty Winters in 1995. After a few EPs and the follow-up Never Work Ever in 1996, Raymond Brake dissolved and Cabic headed west, eventually putting down roots in San Francisco.

While enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, Cabic met fellow student Banhart and quickly forged a lasting creative alliance. Sharing stages with Banhart, Newsom, Six Organs of Admittance, and others, he began shaping songs for a new project he called Vetiver, after the lemongrass relative used in perfumery. Adding Banhart on guitar and backing vocals, Jim Gaylord on violin, and Alissa Anderson on cello to Cabic’s own vocals, banjo, and acoustic guitar, the band released its self-titled debut on DiCristina in 2004. Produced by Thom Monahan of the Pernice Brothers, the record also included guest contributions from Newsom, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, and former My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm O'Ciosoig. As freak folk gathered momentum and Banhart’s international profile rose, Vetiver gained new listeners through the association. In addition to Banhart’s playing on Vetiver releases, Cabic co-wrote Banhart’s breakthrough song “At the Hop,” and Banhart returned the favor by naming his own track “When the Sun Shone on Vetiver” after his friend’s band.

Vetiver’s next outing, the 2005 odds-and-ends set Between, contained two live cuts, a fresh take on a song from the debut, and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Save Me a Place.” On the second proper album, 2006’s To Find Me Gone, Cabic expanded the core trio of himself, Banhart, and Anderson by adding drummer Otto Hauser and bassist Kevin Barker. After the record appeared, he assembled a permanent full-time lineup of himself, Anderson, Hauser, guitarist Sanders Trippe, and bassist Brent Dunn. In 2008 the band issued A Thing of the Past, a covers collection spotlighting songs by Michael Hurley, Ronnie Lane, and Townes Van Zandt.

Sub Pop released the following album, Tight Knit, in 2009 and kept the group for 2011’s The Errant Charm, whose relaxed, unhurried atmosphere reflected Cabic’s habitual walks through San Francisco’s Richmond District. He returned in 2015 with sixth album Complete Strangers, again produced by sole Vetiver producer Thom Monahan. The record wove more electronic elements into Cabic’s easygoing folk songwriting. After extensive touring with the full band behind the album, Cabic undertook several stripped-down tours alongside longtime friend Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats. Those intimate shows featured the two songwriters trading material and supporting each other with just two acoustic guitars and harmonies. Their easy rapport proved so engaging that, during a free morning on one tour, they cut six songs in the same spare format at a studio. The session became the EP In Real Life (Live at Spacebomb Studios), issued jointly under both band names in early 2019. Before the year ended, Vetiver’s seventh album, Up on High, surfaced. Shaped by several relocations, it returned to the more organic, folk-centered sound of earlier Vetiver work.