Polybanderous

Polybanderous plays the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport on Monday, October 12. It's a solo set, and the whole thing is built on the fly: he loops vocals, sax, drum loops, and guitar riffs in real time to layer one soundscape over another. The result is a singer-songwriter vibe that pulls from alternative, soul, rock, and pop, and because he's looping it all as he goes, you can actually hear the song being constructed right in front of you.

Polybanderous is the stage name of a musician who's spent a good deal of time in the Seattle scene. He's played a long string of the city's rooms—The Showbox, El Corazon, The Crocodile, Neumos, Barboza, and The Substation—and even performed at CenturyLink Field during a Seahawks game. He was also featured on the television series Band In Seattle. The name itself comes from his love of all the bands he's been a part of, and he's toured both nationally and internationally.

If you're not familiar with how a looping set works, it's a bit different from a standard gig. Instead of a full band behind him, he records a phrase—a vocal line, a sax riff, a drum beat—and then loops it, playing over the top of it while adding more layers. By the time a song is fully built, it sounds like a full band is in the room, but it's just one person layering the parts one by one. It's a good way to see how a song is put together from the ground up.

The show is at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport on Monday, October 12.