Freak Scene #64: The Giant's Harp Rein in the Jams
Plus, Mitch Linker has a new EP after two years of musical inactivity.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we check out the first EP from Easthampton band the Giant’s Harp, and welcome back Mitch Linker, who released a new EP earlier this year.
If you prefer the Grateful Dead’s hazy country-rock sound on albums like American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead to the group’s more meandering, jammy side, Easthampton group the Giant’s Harp has an EP for you.
The band’s self-titled release is a collection of five (relatively) concise tracks that draw on the best elements of the Dead: inventive guitar parts, gentle psychedelia, a sense of whimsy. Yet while the Giant’s Harp reflects the Grateful Dead’s influence, they take it in their own direction, likely because the foursome has a deep understanding of the source material. Singer and guitarist Gordon Clark, drummer Brian Marchese and bassist Seth Deysher are part of the Western Mass. Dead tribute Mind Left Body. Stepping out with the Giant’s Harp is their vehicle for original music. (The group also features keyboard player/singer Parker McQueeney, while bassist Scott Wolfram also contributed.)
The Giant’s Harp has a breezy sensibility, and even when Clark observes on first song “Soul’s Pool Heartache Parade” that his pay only covers half the rent, he doesn’t sound like he’s taking it too hard. The song is built around a super hooky chorus, with a musical arrangement that is full and well thought-out. Clark transitions from fat-toned chords on the verses to nimble lead lines on the solo break, and McSweeney’s whirring organ and Deysher’s wide-roaming bassline fill in the rest while Marchese holds it all together on the drum kit with limber accompaniment that seems effortless (and surely is not).
McSweeney’s burbling electric piano evokes rainfall on “I See the Sun,” and that’s him playing a couple of measures of solo piano to open “Lost Without You.” At 6 1/2 minutes, the minor-key tune is the longest track on the EP, and also the jammiest as the band stretches out with intertwining electric guitar and piano parts and tight backing vocal harmonies on the refrain. A track later, “Change in the Wind” has a sprightlier feel as Marchese lays in a bouncy beat for rolling keyboards sweet vocal harmonies that build into a taut, confident guitar break.
Though the Giant’s Harp is the first foray together into original music for the Mind Left Body cohort, the band says it won’t be the last. In that case, this EP is a very promising start.
Mitch Linker Sees Light on ‘Clouds and Sun’
Mitch Linker seems like a sensitive guy. His 2022 LP In Time was “packed full of bright hooks, tight musical arrangements and a wistful sensibility,” I wrote back then, and the Bloomfield singer’s latest, the four song EP Clouds and Sun, has a similar vibe. Indeed, the title seems to refer less to the forecast than to a state of mind.
Linker has a knack for glossy grown-up pop songs that are tuneful and subtle. He’s not afraid of sincerity, and though his lyrics often have a soft-focus sentimentality, it’s never outsized or mawkish, which is a testament to Linker’s restraint — even on a song like “Our Last Good Years.” It’s a heady piano ballad piled high with guitars, and Linker is thinking about the future. Though the conceit is startlingly blunt at first — let’s put aside our past shortcomings and enjoy life before we’re too decrepit to manage — the carpe diem message resonates. The hooks don’t hurt, either.
Not all of Clouds and Sun is so portentous. His narrator is taking stock on opener “Never Better,” reconnecting with himself amid a sleek blend of keyboards, guitars and drums. Though he insists on the chorus that he’s never been better, the largely solitary activities he lists on the verse make you wonder whether that’s strictly true. Chugging guitars come to the fore on “Sandbar” as Linker finds the beauty in simple, throw-away moments with a partner. The track demonstrates the versatility of his voice, which can range from a rasping murmur to big and emotive.
Clouds and Sun follows what Linker has said was a period of musical inactivity. Given that he comes across throughout his discography as a consummate musical craftsman, it’s good that he found his way back to writing songs that show his attention to detail, and his way with a melody.
Upcoming Concerts
Matthew Larsen and the Documents share the bill with the Lucky Shots (we dug into their latest in Freak Scene #59) May 9 at Progression Brewery in Northampton. There’s no cover.
The Drake in Amherst hosts the Soul Rebels June 8 (tickets) and the Surfrajettes June 29 (tickets). Kimaya Diggs is there Sept. 13, performing “a special set of 2000s R&B/soul classics” (tickets).
The Iron Horse in Northampton features former Leonard Cohen backing singer Perla Batalla doing a tribute to Cohen Aug. 7 (tickets), Tatiana Eva-Marie Aug. 17 (tickets), Dougie Poole Sept. 20 (tickets), Veretski Pass and A Glezele Tey playing Ottoman and Yiddish folk songs, respectively, Oct. 8 (tickets), Nora Brown Oct. 16 (tickets) and Hell’s Belles Dec. 7 (tickets). For another dose of Cohen, with Joni Mitchell, there’s Both Sides Now, a cabaret-style tribute by Robbie Schaeffer and Danielle Wertz Oct. 9 (tickets). Also, Winterpills play an album-release show Nov. 8 (tickets). My bold prediction: seems like a good indication that a new Winterpills album is on the way.
Westville Music Bowl in New Haven hosts Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen Marley July 29 (tickets), Sublime with the Interrupters Aug. 23 (tickets) and Haim Sept. 9 (tickets).
Western Mass. prog band Amulette play the Marigold Theater in Easthampton May 9 with Mutineer and Monarchs and Masses (admission $10-15).
That’s it for this week, but 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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