Freak Scene #26: Tessa Brown Is Just Getting Started
Get the scoop on singer Tessa Brown and upcoming concerts in this edition of Freak Scene.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
And we’re back! This week in Freak Scene, we listen to Connecticut singer Tessa Brown and catch up on a load of concert bookings.
Trying out for a reality TV singing competition like American Idol or The Voice has always struck me as an attempt to game the system. Becoming a good singer, songwriter or performer takes time and effort, and too many (usually) young aspirants view reality TV as a shortcut to fame, a way to vault over the learning-your-craft part of establishing a career. Tessa Brown is taking the opposite approach.
The Farmington, Conn., native (and current student at Berklee College of Music student) has been writing songs since she was little, playing shows and building an audience. Brown this spring released her first EP, Alchemy Undone, a six-song document of a young musician finding her way. She takes a subdued approach on songs that have a folky sensibility. Opening song “The Alchemist” sports a full-band musical arrangement, with gleaming electric guitar licks and an unobtrusive bassline. Elsewhere, acoustic guitar carries the songs, with careful adornment from viola on “Another Something” and glimmers of electric guitar on “One Lone Preacher.”
Brown wrote the songs here while she was in high school, and the subject matter reflects it — she’s singing about the rush of feelings and frustrations that comes with first love. She can turn a phrase, though, and Brown delivers her confessional lyrics in a clear, pretty voice that ranges from hushed murmur to ringing ache. In other words, she is a talented young musician who’s just getting started with Alchemy Undone.
Brown has had a busy spring and summer with gigs scattered around greater Hartford, including a show at the Hill-Stead Museum and the Pratt Street Music Series. Her momentum continues this weekend, when she performs Sunday, Aug. 11, at the Summer Farm Festival with Art & Craft Fair at Hein Farm in Farmington. The farm’s website is light on details, but Brown plays at 11 a.m.
Upcoming Concerts
There are bigger shows coming, but none more intriguing than Destroyer playing Oct. 25 at the Drake in Amherst. It’s the project of Dan Bejar, occasionally of the New Pornographers, and I can’t think of a time in the past 20 years when he’s played a local concert. Bonus: he’s also booked Oct. 24 at StageOne at FTC in Fairfield. His music varies from album to album, but this is a standout track:
Amanda Palmer performs Sept. 21 at the Academy of Music in Northampton. The true-crime podcast Criminal stops there Nov. 19 on a tour. DSP Shows has details.
Martin Sexton has added a second local date on his Abbey Road Show tour Oct. 29 at the House Theater at Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield. DSP Shows has more information.
North Carolina alt-rockers Big Something perform Oct. 1 at the Iron Horse in Northampton. The reunited Boston-born shoegaze band Drop Nineteens are there Oct. 20 (I wrote about their reunion for the Boston Globe this spring). Former Northampton resident Mark Erelli is there Oct. 27. Cloudbelly returns Nov. 2 (have I mentioned how great their latest album is?). Matt Hebert and the Lonesome Brothers perform Nov. 3. Lady Lamb is there Nov. 15. Bob Schneider and Steve Poltz share the bill Dec. 14. And Enter the Haggis close out 2024 with a pair of shows Dec. 30-31. Tickets and more information are available here.
Other shows at the Drake: the Cybertronic Spree with Mega Ran Sept. 12. Roomful of Blues are there Sept. 27, and Northampton “Celtic-thrash” band Big Bad Bollocks perform Sept. 28. Check here for tickets and details.
Next week: We dig into Ian St. George’s debut album, Emergency Index.
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