Freak Scene #10: Birdfeeder's 'Woodstock' Arrives After 28 Years
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Mark Mulcahy (him again!) and Chris Harford finally (re-)release a project nearly three decades in the making, the group Eavesdrop has a new EP called Evergreen and former Raft singer Patrick Hoynoski has a new solo song as Catrick.
Birdfeeder's album Woodstock first showed up online early last year before Mark Mulcahy’s collaboration with Chris Harford disappeared in preparation for a re-release with more fanfare. For those who didn’t find it in February 2023, what’s another 14 months to wait for a project that’s been gestating since the mid-’90s?
Some background: Mulcahy, as we know, co-founded the New Haven band Miracle Legion in the early ’80s, and later contributed music under the name Polaris to the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Harford was part of Boston indie-rockers 3 Colors before leading Band of Changes. Mulcahy and Harford met back in the day and have been friends ever since. The eight tracks on Woodstock first took shape 1996 when Mulcahy spent a weekend at Harford’s place in Princeton, N.J., as Miracle Legion was drifting apart and after 3 Colors had folded. The demos they made languished for 25 years, until 2021 when Mulcahy and Harford convened for a day and a half in the Woodstock, N.Y., studio of Kevin Salem (who was part of Dumptruck, another ’80s Boston band), fleshing out seven of the eight tracks they recorded in Harford’s basement. The eighth song is the actual demo, which resisted reinterpretation.
So, after that circuitous digression through a corner of the New England indie scene as it was three decades ago, there’s no mistaking Mulcahy’s involvement with Birdfeeder. It’s his voice, for one thing: mellow, expressive and just a touch wry, as if he’s winking (or wincing) at the self-consciously performative element of, well, performing. The lyrics are also Mulcahy’s, which means they’re charming and a little off-kilter. He has great skill at bringing out odd details, or steering stories in unexpected directions. It sounds like somebody’s plotting something on opener “Big Chairs and Candy,” and Harford backs Mulcahy’s conversational vocals with rich chords on acoustic guitar. Mulcahy quickly upends the Rockwellian image he sketches on the opening lines of “She Stood Up at the PTA” when a poetry recitation turns into a physical altercation. “She’s tender / Or is she?” Mulcahy sings over his own skeletal drum part, while Harford contributes warm, overdriven electric guitar.
With Harford’s springy guitar and Mulcahy’s robust vocals, “So Triangular” is as catchy as it is inscrutable from a narrative perspective. The final track, “Super Diamondaire,” is the original demo, and it’s no wonder the song proved impossible to re-record. It’s spacey and loose with echoing vocals and swiggles of guitar climbing over an airy drum part that’s mostly on the beat. Though the sound quality is scratchier than the rest of Woodstock, the track feels like natural culmination of the Harford-Mulcahy project: it’s like a glimpse into the creative process. Or maybe it’s just two friends screwing around in the basement, making music as their purest selves.
Eavesdrop Stay 'Evergreen' on New EP
Eavesdrop change up their sound a bit on the band's new EP, Evergreen, swapping some of the roots-rock flavor of the group's earlier work for a sound rooted more in R&B-flavored pop. Fronted by Laura Buchanan, Kerrie Wert and Kara Wolf, the group explores synth textures, basslines that snap and pop and a sleek drum sound on these five songs. Opener "Only One" showcases the vocal interplay among Buchanan, Wert and Wolf, who sing over a muted funk guitar part that anchors the tune. A punchy drum part comes in and out, and a saxophone solo winds its way into the outro.
Backed by Jared Quinn on guitars, Darby Wolf on keys, Marc Seedorf on bass and Andrew Ricketts on drums, the group keeps the tempos mostly upbeat at first: swirls of wah-wah guitar accompany the call-and-response chorus on "Where Time Moves Slow," while "Up North" has a soaring seize-the-day vibe. The last two songs, "Stars" and "Holds Her Own," are quieter numbers built around strummed acoustic guitars. Putting both slow jams together at the end means neither one stands out as much as it could, but the simpler arrangements emphasize how tightly Buchanan, Wert and Wolf sing together. Their harmonies are seamless on "Stars," which also includes piano, and they nail their parts so completely on "Holds Her Own" that the vocals sound effortless.
Eavesdrop play an EP release show Saturday, April 13, at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, with Mary Mcavoy opening. There's more information here.
Ex-Raft Singer Returns as Catrick
Singer Patrick Hoynoski left Westfield funk-rockers the Raft in 2012 to pursue a law degree in California. After going through trauma and depression in his personal life, he moved back to Western Mass. a few years ago to refocus on music. Now performing as Catrick, Hoynoski is working on an album he hopes to have ready by this fall. One of the songs, "Nate," is about a friend who helped Hoynoski through that dark period in his life, before dying unexpectedly at 40 following hip surgery. "Nate" is a somber tribute as Catrick contemplates life's twists and his friend's too-sudden departure. Though the track is downhearted, there are still hints of Hoynoski's funk-rock roots in the fat, buttery guitar tone and the punchy, up-front drums.
The song is the follow-up to "Kitty in the Sun," which Catrick released last month. His stage name is an acknowledgment of his two black cats, Luna and Iris, which Hoynoski adopted in Californina, just before the pandemic. "On my worst days, they were the reason I would get out of bed," he says. "Also, I could be infected with toxoplasmosis, which might explain my deep love for them too."
Upcoming Concerts
Arcadia Folk Festival has a lineup for Aug. 24: Sarah Jarosz, the Felice Brothers, Mipso, Amythyst Kiah, Heather Maloney and Alisa Amador are the highlights. Tickest are here. Jarosz released a lovely new album, Polaroid Lovers, in January, and the Felice Brothers just announced a new album, The Valley of Abandoned Songs, due June 28; the first single is "Crime Scene Queen":
Local music-share outfit Secret Planet, the brainchild of Edo Mor, has a handful of shows coming up: the Grammy-nominated jazz drummer Blaque Dynamite plays the Marigold Theatre April 23, a group of musical fellows from around the world perform May 5 at Bombyx in Florence as part of the OneBeat musical exchange program, and the Colombian psychedelic-salsa act Meridian Brothers plays May 10 at a secret location. To find out where, and learn more about how a music share is sort of like a CSA farm share, but for concerts, check out Secret Planet's website.
At Hawks & Reed in Greenfield, the Soul Rebels perform May 19, 413 Ska presents the Agonizers May 25, Jenny Don't & the Spurs are there June 13, Australian-Jamaican roots-reggae singer Nattali Rize is there June 14, Dublin Americana crew Draw Slow plays July 20, Will Orchard, Jess Kerber and Jake Klar perform Aug. 3, and Canadian brass-funk band My Son the Hurricane stops in Sept. 6. Ticket information is available on the Hawks & Reed website.
DSP Shows has booked Albert Cummings at the Iron Horse July 13 and Eddie 9V July 14. Steve Earle plays a solo show at the Academy of Music July 18, and Patty Griffin comes to Bombyx July 23. The Violent Femmes perform their self-titled first album Aug. 14 at the Pines Theatre at Look Park. Toad the Wet Sprocket play Summer Stage at Tree House Brewery in South Deerfield Aug. 12, Little Feat are there Aug. 20. Ticket information is here for all DSP Shows concerts.
In New Haven, Sleater-Kinney perform July 31 at the College Street Music Hall. The Struts are there Aug. 7. For more information on those and other Premier Concerts/Manic Presents events, see their website.
Next week: Sunburned Hand of the Man teaches us the meaning of free-form experimentalism on Nimbus, the band's latest.
To submit your music for coverage consideration, send a note to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first. You can find previous issues of Freak Scene in the archive. (Freak Scene is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.)