This week in Freak Scene, Connecticut band Calendula released its first album this summer. Also, apparently the second-best time to start a ska band is right now, according to Brooklyn-via-Connecticut band Be Decent. (The best time? Thirty years ago.)

Historically, calendula was less a medicinal herb than a culinary and magical one. Commonly known as marigold, calendula was used to add flavor, and also as an ingredient potions to discern affairs of the heart. Abigail Golec hasn’t strayed far from that mission on the self-titled album from her project Calendula.

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It’s a collection of eight tracks that fall somewhere between folk and indie-rock. Golec is backed many songs by various configurations of Nick Briere on guitar, Dylan Cochrane on bass and Conor Ryan on drums or pedal steel guitar, though she plays a few entirely on her own. Golec immerses herself in the natural world, musing about sunlight, flowers and the sea. The Stafford Springs singer and songwriter is a quiet presence in her songs, even when the songs themselves are not.

She sings in sweetly reflective tones through a tangle of elastic guitars and a driving rhythm on opener “The Shore,” and slots her voice in neatly alongside the squall of overdriven guitars and a thrumming bassline on “Shiver,” which closes the album in much the way it began. In between, Golec often embraces a quieter sound, singing as if from the distance of drowsy afternoon in late spring on “Bloom,” and summoning visions of the shade on a sweltering day in the way Ryan’s pedal steel floats above her acoustic guitar on “Haze.”

Though Golec is drawn in her lyrics to the natural world, she’s not using it as a form of escapism. Rather, her observations seem to serve as an introspective frame of reference, a way of making sense of the rest of existence. “I’m still trying to figure what it’s all about,” she sings on “Shiver,” which puts Golec in good company with the rest of us.

Be Decent Are More Than That on ‘Now’s the Time’

I’ve mentioned before here that Manchester native Ken Partridge, a longtime friend and colleague, wrote a book about ska, the excellent 2021 release Hell of a Hat: The Rise of ’90s Ska and Swing. Soon after, he put together his own ska band, Be Decent, in which he plays bass. The Brooklyn foursome next week releases its first full-length album, Now’s the Time (reserve your copy here).

Partridge, drummer Geoff Bickford (also from Manchester), singer/guitarist Jimmy Doyle and saxophonist Matt Mason have plenty of chemistry: they play together with a tight-knit seat-of-their-pants energy on the 15-track LP, which is full of big, brassy horn charts arranged by Mason and fleshed out by Sean McCabe on trombone. There’s more than ska here: Be Decent also dabble in power pop and straight up punk rock, and contributors to the album include Partridge’s 10-year-old son and also Ted Leo, who sings on the first single, “Human Nature.” (Seems like everyone knows someone who knows Ted Leo, right? Such a top-notch guy.)

Fingers crossed that Be Decent line up a gig in Connecticut or Western Mass. before long, but in the meantime, if you’ll happen to be in Brooklyn Sept. 26, they’re playing an album-release show at Wild East Brewing.

Upcoming Concerts

The Iron Horse in Northampton hosts a Secret Planet show by Colombian Latin jazz sextet Las Guaracheras Oct. 18 (tickets), Robert Jon & the Wreck March 30 (tickets) and folk group Trio Mandli from Georgia (the country) April 24 (tickets).

The Parlor Room features Cricket Blue, Ciarra Fragale and Elijah Berlow Sept. 29 as part of its songwriter series (tickets), Boston honky-tonk band Talking Hearts Oct. 16 (tickets), Told Slant, H. Pruz and Sable Island Pony Oct. 21 (tickets) and singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon Nov. 8 (tickets). Alas, Robert Ellis' show Oct. 3 is canceled.

The Drake hosts a night of local acts Oct. 9 with Nate Deslauriers Band, Gulley and Cherry Flavored (tickets), presented by Local Mojo UMass. King Tuff is there Dec. 12 with Sheer Mag (tickets).

Coming to the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen: the jazz shares production Dimensionality Oct. 3 (tickets), singer-songwriter and women's music pioneer Cris Williamson Oct. 17 (tickets) and Bitch with Kay Turner & the Pages Oct. 24 (tickets).

Speaking of ska, 413 Ska hosts its third-annual holiday extravaganza Dec. 5 at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton with Dolls Who Sleigh, the Doped Up Dollies, PWRUP, the Doomstompers, the Pomps, Skarmy of Darkness and Futon Lasagna (tickets).

Bridgeport's Alpaca Gnomes play a Halloween show Oct. 30 at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford (tickets). Infinity in Norfolk hosts Tinsley Ellis Nov. 14 (tickets), Sue Foley and GA-20 Dec. 4 (tickets), the Slambovian Circus of Dreams Christmas show Dec. 12 (tickets) and Robert Jon & the Wreck April 1 (tickets).

Stone Church in Brattleboro hosts Xasthur Sept. 29 with Temple of the Fuzzwitch (tickets).

That it’s for now. Thank you for reading! Previous issues are available in the online archive. Freak Scene is free, but donations help make this happen and are gratefully accepted. If you’re able, please consider a paid subscription!

This Week’s Shows

David Grogan, who moved to Western Mass. last year, has been compiling listings for area concerts on the very useful Paradise City Music website. Check it out! The full Freak Scene concert calendar is available here for paid subscribers.