Freak Scene #61: Kalliope Jones Claim Their Space on 'Carnivorous'
Plus, the excellent new single from Easthampton band Lost Film.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Kalliope Jones return with their first full-length album in eight years, while Lost Film have a new single out just in time for a gig tonight in Easthampton.
Some bands make music in a way that feels collaborative, other bands lean toward cooperative. Kalliope Jones does some of each. There’s no one style or approach that defines the Western Mass. trio, because Alouette (Lou) Batteau, Wesley Nields Chalfant and Isabella DeHerdt are continuously shifting through a bunch of them on Carnivorous. All three are songwriters, and singers, and the band’s cooperative ethos comes through the sense they that they encourage each other to follow where the muse leads rather than strive for a specific Kalliope Jones sound. In other words, the sound of Kalliope Jones is whatever the group is playing in the moment.
In practice, that means the spiky indie-rock of “Playing the Field” sits alongside the Lilith Fair folk-pop of “Get in Trouble” and the muscular guitar workout “Stitched Up Sides” happily co-exists next to the somber “Happy Meal,” while the buoyant “Bog Song” has just a hint of ska. With DeHerdt on guitar, Chalfant on bass and Batteau moving out from the drums to guitars and synths (with new collaborator Dev Plotkin taking a seat behind the kit), the group shows a deeper versatility than ever before, more than a dozen years after they met as pre-teens at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen.
Three of the songs here come from Kalliope Jones’ 2024 EP 10:37 in Heaven, including opener “Playing the Field.” Kicking off Carnivorous, the track feels like a particularly catchy welcome banner. I described the tune in Freak Scene #9 as “a fiery love-hate jam, puts growling guitars up front, and sweetens them with rising spirals of melody and rich harmony vocals.” A track later, on the breezy “Get in Trouble,” the group encourages a suburban super-mom to do what the title says, rather than always sublimate her free-spirited, rebellious streak to the needs of her family. It’s one of several songs on Carnivorous about the divide between what we want and what we’re told is acceptable.
The theme emerges again on “Speechless,” an exasperated rocker skewering the know-it-all tendency in a certain type of college-age man who can’t resist the impulse to hear himself pontificate on any given subject, whether he knows anything about it or not. “He’s not a revolutionary, he’s just a jackass,” Batteau archly observes, failing to be impressed despite the blowhard’s best efforts.
The group slows down on “Holy,” which I called “a vocal showcase featuring intertwining backing vocals over a crystalline lead melody” last year, and on “Happy Meal.” On the latter, note quite 90 seconds long, glimmers of bright guitar frame moody vocals delivered from the perspective of someone who feels compelled to reflexively apologize for everything, lest she take up too much space in the world.
Given the tenor of the songs on Carnivorous, it’s clear that Kalliope Jones do not themselves subscribe to that idea. Not only are Batteau, Chalfant and DeHerdt claiming the space they richly deserve to occupy, they’re using it to make the music they want with style and a sharp point of view, with no apology whatsoever.
Kalliope Jones play an album release show tonight, April 11, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, with Hazel Foucault opening (tickets).
Lost Film Create a Spark on New Single ‘Pilot Light’
As good as Lost Film were on their dreamy 2023 indie-pop album Keep It Together, the Easthampton band led by Jim Hewitt makes what feels like a huge leap forward on the new single “Pilot Light.”
Some of that is to do with the actual recording: “Pilot Light” sounds terrific. It’s a shoegazey track with an abundance of cascading guitar lines from Hewitt, and propulsive drums courtesy of Jeremy Woods. John Panagotopulos mixed and mastered the song, which is catchy and immersive. Hewitt’s murmuring vocals are submerged in reverb while he sings lyrics about what he says is “the idea of needing a spark now and then to get out of the dark.”
“Pilot Light” is the first of several forthcoming singles this year while the band has been focusing on its live show. Not only are Lost Film playing the Green River Festival in June, they have a gig tonight, April 11, at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, with Slant of Light and Nanny. Tickets and more info are here.
Also This Weekend: Kimaya Diggs at De La Luz
With plans to start recording a new album later this year, Kimaya Diggs performs solo Sunday, April 13, with Lizzie No at De La Luz in Holyoke (tickets).
“This will be the last opportunity to hear a few songs from my upcoming album until its release,” Diggs says, which she will begin recording next month in Nashville. She anticipates the album will come out in 2026.
Diggs is excited to share the bill with No, whom she describes as “a powerful Black queer country artist based in Nashville, presenting truly extraordinary music in the Black womanist tradition.”
Upcoming Concerts
One more for this weekend: Hadley singer-songwriter Harry Remer, Nectar and Northampton’s RJ McCarty perform tonight, Friday, April 11, at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton.
Mark your calendars: Outro perform May 2 at JJ’s Tavern in Florence with Les Dérailleurs and Always Manic; admission is $10.
Amherst’s Dinosaur Jr. returns April 24 to the Drake, also conveniently located in Amherst, to mark the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1994 album Without a Sound. Funny enough, that version of the band only included one current member: singer and guitarist J Mascis, who lives close enough to the Drake that he could walk to the gig, though getting his massive guitar rig there would definitely require multiple trips. Anyway, tickets are here.
Also coming to the Drake: Burn the Jukebox June 28 (tickets) and Lucero Sept. 23 (tickets), on a tour marking the 20th anniversary of their album Nobody’s Darlings.
Lucero will also be at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford Sept. 19 (tickets), six weeks after the Mountain Goats play there Aug. 9 (tickets) with Craig Finn, the Hold Steady singer, who just released a solo album (I recently wrote about him, and the album, for Paste).
Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield hosts the Disco Biscuits July 10 (tickets) and the Wood Brothers Aug. 7 (tickets).
The Iron Horse features Bright Light Social Hour July 17 (tickets), Cheryl Wheeler Sept. 14 (tickets), a second night with Fred Eaglesmith Oct. 18 (tickets), and Haley Reardon with Judit Nedderman Nov. 23 (tickets).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts Save Ferris June 11 with Zombii and the Simulators (tickets) and the Queers Aug. 20 (tickets).
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