Freak Scene #116: Tim Eriksen & Peter Irvine's 'Absence and her sister'
Plus, Amherst singer and guitarist Kim Chin-Gibbons shows her chops on her first LP
This week in Freak Scene, we consider folk minimalism on a new album by Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine, and highly intricate prog-rock from Kim Chin-Gibbons.
There’s a starkness to Tim Eriksen’s music that is easy to mistake for emotional austerity, but beneath the minimalist accompaniment and Eriksen’s unadorned vocals flows a rich emotional current on Absence and her sister. The new album is a collaboration between Eriksen and Peter Irvine, bandmates now and then in the Northampton punk-folk group Cordelia’s Dad. Here, they tackle songs of New England, both age-old traditional numbers and new originals that sound ancient.
The minimalism is the result of Eriksen’s fondness for two-chord (or, on “Every Sound Below,” two-note) song structures. It’s like a slightly more dynamic drone or, put another way, the musical equivalent of shifting rhythmically back and forth from one foot to the other. Irvine’s percussion is just as pared back, often played on hand instruments or applied with ghostly restraint on a glockenspiel (sometimes played with a bow, for a subtle, keening effect).
That leaves plenty of space for melodic embellishment on Absence and her sister, but Eriksen is judicious about how and where he applies it. On opener “The Jolly Tinker,” he whistles an almost-jaunty figure that sounds like a distant echo from another age, while “A Tiny Crown” features lush fingerpicked guitar over tinkling percussion, as if Irvine is rattling a metal drinking straw in a mason jar. “Boston” is one of a handful of tracks on the album with a real sense of movement as Eriksen wraps his voice around a melody that rises above his hard-strummed acoustic guitar and Irvine’s spare, thumping accompaniment on a drum. More often, Eriksen sings in tandem with the guitar parts, lending a monochromatic feel to many of the songs.
Yet the subject matter is shot through with color: dark and turbulent hues on the harrowing murder ballad “Two Sisters,” or golden and muted on “Amelia,” a somber, graceful air (also with a sense of movement). Pairing narrative lyrics with relentless, repeating musical figures imbues the songs with a sense of tension that builds until, if you’re willing, it shakes loose whatever calcified parts of your soul have grown immune to the lure of the unvarnished simplicity that this music represents — on the surface, at least. Beneath the plainspoken exterior exists a world of complexity, and therein lies the beauty of it all.
Kim Chin-Gibbons Shows Her Chops on First LP
When Kim Chin-Gibbons isn’t busy with Sunset Mission, the eight-piece Boston prog band she joined a few years ago, she’s working on her own music. The Amherst native recently released her first album, Coming Out, Math-Rock & Mourning Murder, a collection of virtuosic, highly intricate songs drawing on prog, but also folk and, as the title suggests, math rock.
Coming Out, Math-Rock & Mourning Murder | Kim Chin-Gibbons
9 track album
The nine tracks here are vivid and alive, full of shifting time signatures, unusual rhythms and playing that ranges from frenetic to laid back. Abetted throughout by members of Sunset Mission on guitar, bass and drums, the instrumental parts are tightly performed and knitted together by Chin-Gibbons’ clear, ringing vocals. She projects with self-assurance through the busy baritone guitar workout at the start of “For Anything” and the crunchy heavy metal guitar chords that come midway through, and Chin-Gibbons sounds deceptively serene as she sings about sorting out emotions on “Crossing the Chemical Line,” her baritone guitar parts melding with basslines from Jan Schwartz and lithesome drumming from Dana Goodwin.
Though “restraint” isn’t a concept that is generally associated with prog rock — realm of the 20-minute song and questionable interpretations of classical suites — Chin-Gibbons packs her ideas into concise structures. Opener “In the Garden” barely cracks the 2-minute mark, her airy voice and a lovely acoustic guitar part evaporate like morning dew, while a subtle soundscape wends its way through multi-tracked vocals and a resonant bassline in just 2 1/2 minutes on “Frozen in Time.” Chin-Gibbons and her collaborators could easily have extended any of those songs into more sprawling pieces, but her penchant for brevity on Coming Out, Math-Rock & Mourning Murder demonstrates her chops in an easily accessible way, and it squares up to that age-old show-biz saw: always leave them wanting more.
Upcoming Concerts
These are new shows announced this week. The full concert calendar is available here for paid subscribers.
Mind Left Body play a free show tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, at Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthamtpon from 7-9 p.m.
Magik Press, a local micro press that prints limited edition books, zines and art, hosts a summer concert series called Sound Church, focusing on ambient, experimental and noise acts, at Odd Cabinet Records in Stafford Springs. June 14 features Shark Hearts, Baron Von Elsa, Carbon Copy God and We Are Bison. July 19 features Neonach, Hissquiet, Lys Guillorn and Caonach. Aug. 16 features Bent Light, Dear Devonté, Neon Amor and Terron the Light. There's a suggested donation of $10 for each show.
The summer of country singers continues at Tree House Brewing when Ashley McBryde performs July 9 (tickets).
The Bill Frissell Trio, featuring Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston, performs June 26 at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls (tickets).
Pat Metheny brings his Side-Eye III+ project to the Academy of Music in Northampton Oct. 2 (tickets).
Québécois folk band Le Vent du Nord play Nov. 5 at Bombyx in Florence (tickets).
The Iron Horse in Northampton hosts "Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins July 9 (tickets), the Wildwoods July 12 (tickets), David Nail Sept. 11 (tickets) and Willie Watson Sept. 12 (tickets).
The Parlor Room in Northampton presents husband-wife folk duo Ordinary Elephant Sept. 27 (tickets).
The Drake in Amherst hosts Easthampton's True Jackie May 29 with Nanny and Saliba (tickets), L'Eclair July 22 (tickets) and Mini Trees Sept. 19 (tickets).
Hutghi's at the Nook in Westfield and 413Ska present a benefit for Trans Lifeline May 30, featuring PWRUP, the Promised End, Slob Drop and the Scrub Ups (tickets). Steppin' Razor Blades, Cenzo, Harry Katz and the Pistachios, Little Low and Nick and the Adversaries are there June 6 (tickets).
LCD Soundsystem returns to College Street Music Hall in New Haven for three shows Sept. 10-12 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts Holy Wars and Oxymorron June 12 (tickets),Craig Finn and Patterson Hood July 14 (tickets), Tophouse Sept. 27 (tickets) and Wednesday 13 Oct. 13 (tickets).
Infinity Hall in Norfolk features Joanne Shaw Taylor Aug. 20 (tickets).
That’s all 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 have the means, please consider a paid subscription!
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