Freak Scene #3: Ken Cormier Blows Off 'Steam'
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
Welcome to the third issue of Freak Scene. This week, we consider Ken Cormier's delightful new(ish) album Clouds and Steam, hear the latest from Easthampton's All Feels and get the story behind local indie promoter Fantastic Shows, plus the Pernice Brothers team up with Neko Case again.
Ken Cormier Knows Fun Is Awesome
Ken Cormier was always among the first musicians who came to mind whenever I thought about starting this newsletter. The Connecticut singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has a unique musical sensibility that runs from off-kilter experimentalism to super-catchy indie-pop songs. The only question, for me, was whether there would be anything to write about: Cormier had released just three albums in 20 years, including the monumentally excellent 2021 LP Old King Cloud.
Fortunately, Cormier returned in record time with Clouds and Steam, which he released last fall. When he sent me a link to the album, he wrote, “This one is a little more fast-paced and gritty than the last one — in a good way, I’m hoping.” In the best way. Clouds and Steam feels of a piece with Old King Cloud, and while the energy of these 11 new tracks is often more chaotic, their execution is just as precise. Cormier wrote, performed and recorded everything himself, and the result is an album that is tightly constructed, but never tightly wound.
On the contrary, these songs have a raucous streak. As he did on Old King Cloud, Cormier emphasizes melody, with bold hooks that seem effortless, frequently in unpredictable ways. While “On and On” is a fairly straightforward rocker with bright guitars flowing over a taut rhythm part, other tracks take gleeful left turns into more offbeat territory. There’s a sound-collage vibe to “Fun Is Awesome,” which features Cormier stacking up layers of himself repeating those three words in different intonations and meters, accompanied by slippery acoustic slide guitar parts, simple bass and a canned beat.
He makes inventive use of his voice elsewhere, too, constructing musical arrangements with a blend of instrumentation and wordless vocals that are equal parts melodic and percussive. It’s particularly engaging on “Tower,” where the prismatic vocal arrangements give way to thrumming bass and twisty psychedelic guitars. His uses repeating syllables as accents on “We’re Not Going Anywhere,” paired with synthesizer bloops and trebly guitars. Voices, of a sort, close out the album, too: “Baa Baa” is nearly two minutes of bleating sheep sounds, a capstone that is peak Cormier. As he declared earlier on Clouds and Steam, fun is awesome, and it’s clear that Cormier is having a lot of fun.
All Feels Preview New LP
At some point this year, Easthampton's All Feels will release a new album. Until then, we'll have to make do with a pair of tantalizing singles the group put up on Bandcamp in December. The first, "Shoreline," is a huge, robust rocker full of surging guitars, a burly beat and Candace Clement's salty-sweet voice stacked up in candy-colored layers. The second song, "Absent," is more restrained, but there's a compelling energy in the interplay among Clement's hazy vocals and the taut arrangement of guitars, bass and drums.
Glen Fant Books Fantastic Shows
It's not just the usual suspects booking concerts in Western Mass: recent transplant Glen Fant has been putting together punk and indie-rock bills as Fantastic Shows since moving to Northampton in 2021. Active in bands in Boston, including Bang Camaro and the Fatal Flaw, he missed the scene when he and his family relocated during the pandemic. Booking shows in Western Mass. was what he calls "a natural extension from putting together bills with my own band, Recent History." So far he pairs local acts with Boston-area bands, usually at JJ's Tavern in Florence, though he's hoping to bring in more national acts in the future. Some of Fantastic's upcoming shows at JJ's: Padded Waltz, Linea’s Garden and Cars Go West perform March 1, The Worst, Tysk Tysk Task and Ian St. George play March 9, Reservations at 8 is there April 12, Graveyard of the Atlantic and Grasshopper Green share the bill May 4, and Autumn Hollow, Gold Dust and Behold True Believers play June 8.
Pernice Brothers + Neko Case (Again)
The Pernice Brothers have a new album coming April 5, which former Northampton resident Joe Pernice teased last month with the diabolically catchy title track, "Who Will You Believe." If that wasn't enough to whet your appetite, this week the band released "I Don't Need That Anymore," a country-style duet with Neko Case that rivals "The Devil and the Jinn," their pairing on the Pernice Brothers' previous LP. If you don't know Joe's story about his chance encounter with Eric Carle on Crescent Street back in the day, it's definitely worth looking up here.
Next week: Easthampton's True Jackie simplified their name but not their sound on a new EP.
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