Freak Scene #20: Hedgewitch Get Telepathic on 'Grass Cat'
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Hedgewitch mix improvised musical arrangements with vocal sounds and stories on their first album, and Signature Dish strive to get you dancing with their first single. Plus, the first-ever Freak Scene readers’ poll.
Are we on the cusp of bog witch summer? Could be, based on all the references I’ve seen lately on social media by people embracing the bog-witch aesthetic. Traditionally a defiant outsider figure with pagan connotations, the latter-day bog witch rejects the pressure of social norms and expectations, but in a tongue-in-cheek way. According to this essay, the idea has grown more prevalent since the 2016 presidential election, and it’s widespread enough at the moment that some wag online recently asked, “If you’re all bog witches, why aren’t there more bogs?” Jasper Kolaski, Care O’Leary and Mara Penatzer sidestep that issue by basing themselves in topiary under the name Hedgewitch.
More literally, the three are scattered between Northampton and Springfield, whence (never “from whence,” kids, it’s redundant) they come together to make experimental music they describe as “telepathic ASMRcore.” ASMR is “autonomous sensory meridian response,” generally experienced as a pleasant tingling sensation on the skin prompted by auditory stimuli, including murmuring, whispering, the tapping of fingernails on a hard surface or turning the pages in a book. Hedgewitch combine variations on those sounds with an improvisational blend of keyboards, bowed electric bass, violin, glockenspiel, an assortment of vocal noises and stories on Grass Cat, their first album.
The resulting compositions are distinctive, unique and sometimes unsettling. The title track starts with exploratory piano notes from Penatzer, violin by O’Leary and Kolaski’s voice hesitantly imparting a narrative, joined midway through by bits of percussion that come and go like intermittent signals. There’s plenty of open space among the musical elements here, as if the sounds are filtering into your dreams. Fittingly, the song took shape around a dream that Kolaski had. Later, on “Snuggly,” limpid pools of piano ripple beneath wordless vocals that creak and hiss, while the sound of rain on “Lost and Found” creates a backdrop for piano, high keening violin and thrumming single notes from a bass, which seem to feint and parry in slow motion.
Grass Cat is largely an extension of the band’s live performances, which take shape in the moment, often after the musicians meditate together as a way to connect. “The three of us value deep listening and really paying attention to each other when we improvise,” Penatzer says by email.
Songs originate in different ways. Sometimes one of the musicians offers a starting point (Kolaski’s dream, for example). Other times, the musicians create a sort of framework around which to structure their improvisations. Though playing together in a free-form way means not knowing where a song might lead, Hedgewitch are embracing the journey.
Signature Dish Throw a Party at ‘Helen’s’
After listening to “Bonfire at Helen’s (Text Me for the Address),” the new single from Signature Dish, Spotify rolled right into “The Distance” by Cake — a curious quirk of the algorithm, because the songs are nothing alike.
“Bonfire at Helen’s (Text Me for the Address)” is a booty-rattling rocker that evokes the naturalistic back-to-the-land side of the ’70s while standing proudly on its own. It’s the first release from Signature Dish, a collaboration between the Western Mass. musicians JJ Slater and Lexi Weege, who have been writing and performing together for a while now. (They wear a lot of garlands in photos on social media, so maybe that’s where the ’70s vibe comes from?)
Weege sings the party anthem in an earthy growl while Slater lays down funky guitar licks punctuated with bright trumpet lines from Gershon Rosen. Weege wrote on Facebook that the song is a celebration of friendship, where everyone comes together around a bonfire to dance and have a good time. If there’s merit to the idea of being the change you want to see in the world, Signature Dish are on the right track.
Upcoming Concerts
The Concert for Community happens Aug. 25 from noon-6 p.m. in the Pines Theater at Look Park in Northampton, featuring Jamie Kent, Roger Salloom, the Gaslight Tinkers, Poor Monroe, StompBox Trio, FrannyO Show and the Expandable Brass Band. Admission to the concert is free, though parking is $10 for those without a season pass to Look Park.
Bob Mould performs a solo-electric show Sept. 7 at the Iron Horse — please don’t buy up all the tickets before I can get one, via DSP Shows.
In New Haven, the Jesus and Mary Chain share a bill with the Psychedelic Furs Oct. 1 at College Street Music Hall. Manic Presents has more information. Also, Fernando Pinto Presents continues to book interesting smaller shows, including the Sunday afternoon outdoor music series Vine and Vibes, which begins this weekend at Small Batch Cellars in North Haven with Roomful of Blues (more information here). He’s also the promoter behind the East Rock Concert Series, which starts July 6 with Grace Pettis, the really great Robby Hecht in a rare Connecticut appearance, and New Haven’s own Frank Critelli. There’s more info here.
The Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen features a double bill with Bitch and Melissa Ferrick Sept. 6. Tret Fure is there Oct. 12. Lucie Blue Tremblay plays Oct. 26. Tickets for all three shows are available here, along with more information about the IMA and its programming.
QUESTION: There are a lot of concerts happening in the region. Would it be useful to have a concert calendar to help keep track of them? That sort of thing requires a fair bit of work, if we’re being honest. Would you be willing to chip in to make it possible? Let me know by choosing an option below.
Er. Apparently surveys don’t show up in the archived version, but here were the options:
Would you be interested in a concert calendar?
Next week: Grayson Ty goes on a journey of self-discovery on his new EP Bloodline.
Freak Scene is always open to submissions! You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first. Previous issues of Freak Scene are available in the archive.