Freak Scene #44: Audio Jane Always Make a Mess on New EP
Plus, Heather Maloney's new single and the latest from Frank Critelli.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we spend some time in Connecticut with Audio Jane and Frank Critelli and his collaborators, plus Northampton’s Heather Maloney has another new single.
By Sarah Pech’s reckoning, she’s been making music since she started playing guitar and writing songs at 13. She has certainly kept busy over the past eight years at the head of Audio Jane. The Simsbury/Granby-area dream-pop band has an ever-expanding catalog of albums and EPs, including the new five-track effort We Always Make a Mess of Things.
If the title sounds fatalistic, well, yes. Pech’s lyrics are often rueful and downhearted on songs from the perspective of people who have a hard time staying out of their own way. She cites longing as a theme, and you can hear it in her voice: her vocals are tousled with just a hint of a sandy rasp that lends an affecting rawness. She sings with an ache on opener “Jackknife,” accompanied by gleaming guitars and the tick of a hi-hat. Elsewhere, on “The Mark,” trebly guitars with a touch of grit descend over a rhythm part that rolls like a swelling sea, and Pech sings accompanied by hazy vocal harmonies.
By the end, on “Neat,” she sounds resigned and a little discouraged, but not defeated. Pech and bassist Nate Harris blend their voices on an atmospheric chorus framed by wispy tendrils of guitar and a steady beat, before keening lead guitar spirals skyward before the song fades out. It feels like an epic end to an emotionally intense journey, and though there’s plenty of earlier music from Audio Jane to dig into, We Always Make a Mess of Things handily manages one of the trickier aspects of making whatever kind of art: it leaves you wanting more.
Audio Jane performs Saturday with Ginger Bug (Freak Scene #35) and Greenholt (Freak Scene #42) at South Whitney Pizza, 264 South Whitney St., Hartford. Doors open at 6 p.m.; there’s a $10 suggested donation.
Heather Maloney Basks in ‘Light You Leave Behind’
The shape of Heather Maloney’s new album Exploding Star is becoming clearer with the release of the second single, “Light You Leave Behind.” (She also today released a lyric video for the first single, the title track.)
Like the rest of Exploding Star, due Jan. 31, Maloney wrote “Light You Leave Behind” after her father died a few years ago. Though she doesn’t shy away from sorrow, she takes solace here in memories of her dad’s impish side, delivering lyrics in a tuneful torrent as if she’s afraid the story will slip through her fingers dissipate if she doesn’t get it all out.
“This song came out of one of the last stories my dad ever told me,” Maloney said in a press release. “He was a Jersey boy with a legitimate twinkle in his eye and a serious mischievous streak. When he was a teenager he’d sneak out of his window — and then — sneak into the nosebleeds at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, where he got to see so many of the classic rock icons of his day. Roosevelt Stadium was torn down the same year I was born, and while he was definitely more tame when he became a dad, the twinkle in his eye never went away.”
Connecticut Hope Collective Releases Benefit Song
The holiday season is often a time of need, and a group of musicians from Southern Connecticut — the Connecticut Hope Collective — seeks to help make a difference with the new song “Just Get to It,” and a fundraiser performance as part of the Pass the Guitar concert series.
Written by Frank Critelli and Erik Rabasca, proceeds from sales of the song on Bandcamp will benefit Beth-El Center, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Milford. Critelli and Rabasca share lead vocals on the track, a wistful imagining of a better world, with a full complement of backing voices on the chorus. The tune also features Rabasca on guitars, Brian Larney on keys, Bobo Lavorgna on bass, Shandy Lawson on mandolin, Muddy Rivers on guitar and Jim Stavris on drums. Everybody sings, along with Denise Jones.
Critelli will host the benefit concert Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. as 20 performers share one guitar onstage at Milford Arts Council, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. Artists scheduled to participate include Rabasca, Larney, Hugh Birdsall, Elana Zabari, Kate Devlin, Tang Sauce, Riley Cotton, Christopher Bousquet, Terri LaChance, D’PEW, Inner Groove, George Morgio, Adelside Punkin, Frank Viele & Kate Fernhom, Shannon MacMayon, Young Dan & MandoTim, Heather McLarney, Luke Rodney and George Moilas. Admission is free, but it’s a fundraiser, so don’t be cheap.
The Bargain Preview New LP With ‘Lady Mondegreen’
Speaking of Frank Critelli, his band the Bargain just released “Lady Mondegreen,” the first single from their upcoming new album. It’s a playful folk-rock tune with a rootsy feel supplied by mandolin and slide guitar. Critelli shows his fondness for lyrical wordplay — “Keep doing the best you can / We only is what we am,” he sings in his clear tenor — and the band is locked in tight behind him. Bassist Lavorgna and drummer Stavris form the rhythm section, with accompaniment from Rivers and Lawson.
The Bargain’s new album, Smile and Smile, is due in January. It’ll be the group’s first LP since ’22 in, well, 2022. They’ll play an album-release show Jan. 3 as part of the Olde Church Acoustic Series at First Church of Meriden, 62 Colony St. There’s a suggested donation of $10.
Upcoming Concerts
Howling Giant plays the Marigold Theater in Easthampton Wednesday, Dec. 16, with Northampton’s own Black Pyramid (Freak Scene #16) and the Western Mass. band Modern Ego (tickets).
The Swell Season, the duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová that came to prominence through the 2007 movie Once, perform July 25 at the Pines Theatre in Northampton (tickets).
Recent History reprise their Singles soundtrack Sunday brunch Jan. 12 at the Iron Horse (tickets). The Bill Charlap Trio is there Jan. 26 (tickets). Ollabelle performs Jan. 28 (tickets) at the Iron Horse and Jan. 29 at Infinity Hall in Hartford (tickets). Mdou Moctar is on tap for an acoustic performance Feb. 6 (tickets). Eli “Paperboy” Reed performs Feb. 26 (tickets). Griffin William Sherry is there March 13 (tickets). Former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre is there April 6 (tickets). The Jacob Joliff Band brings the bluegrass April 9 (tickets).
Perennial come to the Drake in Amherst Jan. 17 with Radical Joy and Truther, who are playing their first show (tickets). Madison Curbelo is there Jan. 25 (tickets). Alex Rohan Band plays Feb. 8 with PrideFalls (tickets). Marco Benevanto performs solo Feb. 20 (tickets). Pink Talking Fish, an unholy-sounding amalgam of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish, pay tribute to Floyd’s Wish You Were Here March 20 (tickets), and also May 3 at Infinity Hall in Norfolk (tickets).
Amethyst Kiah plays March 2 at the Space Ballroom in Hamden (tickets).
Rodney Crowell stops at District Music Hall in Norwalk April 25 (tickets). Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees is there Sept. 28 (tickets).
Dark Star Orchestra perform March 6 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets). Magdalena Bay are there April 30 (tickets).
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead play May 24 at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven (tickets). Lost 80’s Live, featuring A Flock of Seagulls, Big Country, General Public, the Vapors, Belouis Some, the Icicle Works, China Crisis, Josie Cotton, and Polecats, fulfills all your 1980s nostalgia needs July 31 (tickets).
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thanks for the updates--so much cool stuff!