Julie Doiron: Tiny Desk Concert

It isn't easy playing music in an office; it's intimate, but it's also a bit awkward. I know Julie Doiron would agree. But in spite of a few mistakes and retakes, Julie Doiron played a memorable set in the NPR Music offices.

You may know Doiron's work from the '90s, when she played bass in the New Brunswick-based band Eric's Trip, and she was nominated for a Polaris Music Prize for her 2007 release Woke Myself Up. Her new album is titled I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day.

If you see her on stage, as I did in Austin at SXSW in 2009, you'll hear a good deal of distorted guitars, mixed with sometimes-intense drumming from Fred Squire. Both have worked with American musician Phil Elverum and his Mt. Eerie project. But here at my desk, it was just Doiron and her songs: very bare and very stark. It all worked well — though it may have taken a few years off Doiron's life.