Freak Scene #28: Mark Schwaber Ponders the End on 'Glacier'
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Greenfield’s Mark Schwaber returns with an intriguing new album, while Northampton’s Dennis Crommett has a new EP.
Americans tend to be uncomfortable with death, but it’s a subject that fascinates Mark Schwaber. Not only was it a motif on the Greenfield musician’s 2021 album Everything Around Me, death, and destruction more generally, are themes on his latest, Glacier. They are the particular focus of a trilogy of songs scattered throughout the album.
“I’ve been enamored with the subjects as they seem to be all but ignored and feared in America, while that is not the case elsewhere,” says Schwaber, who has been releasing music in various forms since the mid-’90s. “Specifically, in other animals and creatures of the earth.”
His interest in those themes is philosophical rather than ghoulish: Schwaber immersed himself in accounts of the relationship that other organisms have with death, from the octopus to hawks to trees. As often happens, his reading filtered into his songwriting, which yielded 11 indie-rock tunes by turns fierce, dire and elegiac, tied together with Schwaber’s placid voice. He sounds unperturbed even when his vocals give way to blistering lead guitar on the taut rocker “Blast Furnace,” while the ringing minor-key acoustic guitar on the next track, “The End It Feels So Intimate,” gives the song an unsettling vibe. By contrast, the rich instrumental arrangement and Schwaber’s hushed vocals lend a sense of wonder to “Astronomy,” akin to gazing at the endless swirl of stars in the night sky.
The first song of Schwaber’s trilogy opens Glacier: “The Bee, The Moth, The Paper Wasp (The Destroyer I)” is a hazy folk-leaning tune built around strummed acoustic guitar, airy keyboard parts and steady drums. “Black Balloons (The Destroyer II)” has a similar musical sensibility with a bolder vocal melody, while the last song, “Just Rode on Past (The Destroyer III),” opens with what sound like string parts sighing and groaning around layers of Schwaber’s voice. The song shifts into a section driven by huge, distorted electric guitar that abruptly gives way to drifts of strings and ambient synthesizer sounds that close the album on a meditative note.
Dennis Crommett Returns With ‘Another Age’ EP
You generally know what you’re going to get with Dennis Crommett’s other bands: smart, hooky indie-rock with Spanish for Hitchhiking, where he sings and plays guitar; or melancholy chamber-pop with Winterpills, where his elegant lead guitar parts frame Philip Price’s poetic lyrics and close vocal harmonies with Flora Reed.
Crommett cuts a wider swath with his solo projects, going wherever the muse takes him. Over the years that has included the ambient sound of his 2021 EP Keep the Channel Open, a collection of improvised guitar instrumentals on 2022’s The Shipping Forecast and a straight-ahead album of indie folk with a full band on 2023’s Get Gone. Crommett dabbles in electronic textures on his latest, Another Age, a five-track release he describes as “a late summer bedroom EP.” Crommett wrote, performed and recorded everything himself, relying on synthesizers and guitar. It’s a compelling combination on songs are quiet, introspective and often achingly beautiful.
A subtle chugging guitar part acts as a bassline threading through a seamless blend of atmospheric synthesizers and electric guitar on the title track. Crommett’s lyrics convey guarded optimism, as if he’s hoping for the best without discounting the obstacles, and he sings with a sense of restrained longing. Elsewhere, “Creature” features multi-tracked vocals saturated with reverb, while “Free Man” contrasts a swift beat with a wistful melody as Crommett pairs skittering electronics with warm electric guitar lines.
Upcoming Concerts
We learned all about Perennial’s riotous album Art History in Freak Scene #18, and then completely missed their recent show at the Marigold in Easthampton. Luckily, they’re scheduled to play Sept. 13 at Holyoke Media, according to live dates they posted on Instagram.
Mark your calendars: Tom from the Demographic does a solo electric set at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampon Nov. 2. The Demographic were featured in Freak Scene #24.
Here’s a last-minute-ish one: Cat Power brings her tour Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Hall Concert to Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield Sept. 10. DSP Concerts has more info.
Next week: Connecticut singer Jennifer Hill just released her first album.
Do you know a musician you’d like to read about in Freak Scene? Let me know! To submit your (or their) 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 always seeking submissions! You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.
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