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The A's: Tiny Desk Concert

By Bob Boilen
Published December 1, 2022 at 5:01 AM EST

It was clear from the outset, those very first harmonies, that this was to be a playful, fun-filled day at the Tiny Desk. For one thing, the two A's, Amelia and Alexandra, are Tiny Desk alums. Amelia Meath made her Tiny Desk concert debut in 2015 with Nick Sanborn as Sylvan Esso. She returned in 2019 with her Vermont college mates Mountain Man which includes Alexandra Sauser-Monnig along with Molly Erin Sarlé. Alexandra's project, Daughter of Swords, was here not long before the COVID outbreak.

This summer, Amelia and Alexandra put out a delightful album of songs titled Fruit, including the yodeling a cappella cowboy tune that opens this Tiny Desk, "When The Bloom Is On the Sage." Other songs include the folk song "Swing and Turn Jubilee," accompanied by Alexandra on acoustic guitar, with Amelia gently stomping her thick-soled Buffalo sneakers on stones to keep the beat.

Amelia and Alexandra's identical leaf-and-bird-patterned dresses, dark lipstick and even darker sunglasses add an eeriness to these sublime songs. This leads us to the final song in the set, a tune Amelia says will guide her friends on what to do upon leaving this earth. The lyrical instructions in "When I Die" include singing and dancing, drinking to life, flowers to perfume the air and a bonfire to light the way home. Even in the face of death, The A's kept a smile on my face.

SET LIST

  • "When The Bloom Is On the Sage"

    •
  • "Swing and Turn Jubilee"

  • "Werewolf" 

  • "Wedding Dress"

  • "When I Die"

    • MUSICIANS

  • Amelia Meath: vocals

  • Alexandra Sauser-Monnig: vocals, acoustic guitar

    • TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Bob Boilen

  • Director: Joshua Bryant

  • Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin 

  • Series Producer: Bobby Carter

  • Editor: Sofia Seidel

  • Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Sofia Seidel

  • Audio Assistant: Neil Tevault

  • Production Assistant: Jill Britton

  • Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer, Teresa Xie

  • VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

  • Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

    • Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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    Bob Boilen
    In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
    See stories by Bob Boilen

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