Indie Folk Rock: Meiko at Evanston S.P.A.C.E.

By Liz Lawson

Shy, but not embarrassed, Meiko takes the stage—just her and her acoustic guitar. She begins playing her song “Under My Bed,” and opens herself up to the audience right away. A song about lost love with someone who didn’t try hard enough, she feels she can only blame herself for holding on as long as she did. Set in her bedroom, it gives off the sensation of being a girly adolescent again, and finding solace in one’s own bedroom—a thing that represents you.

After the song is over, Meiko quietly jokes that she started with an old song because sometimes after playing solely new songs, she gets backhanded comments after the show from audience members: “Yeah, I really just like your old songs better.”

Her voice and an acoustic guitar go together like the clouds and the sky. It’s light, beautiful, and her voice has a breathy accent to it, mimicking the wind that pushes the clouds along effortlessly. Sometimes, however, it gets intense, and you feel a tension in her, as if her wounds are fresh every time she sings the song.

She goes on telling little anecdotes for each song she plays all night, most of them poking fun at herself. She’s quirky in the best way possible—she knows that’s what makes her special. In her song “I Can’t Tell,” we get a peek inside her whimsical head as she daydreams about a boy she only sees at her job. As she sings, she glances up at the ceiling, as if there’s a little dance going on in her head.

A mixture of indie, folk rock, and pop, Meiko is completely being herself—unapologetically. She’s a true storyteller in her music, and believe me, there were some other great little stories she had to share. But you’ll have to see her to find out.