Freak Scene #76: 'The Case' EP and a Deep Trees Single
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we see how Northampton-area band the Case has revamped a few songs on their new EP, and check out the dance-ready new single from Deep Trees.
In some respects, the Case’s new self-titled EP is a do-over. Three of the five songs here appeared on the Northampton-area group’s 2024 release The World Is Everything That Is ..., but in a more tentative, lo-fi form. For The Case, the band went to the Sonelab recording studio in Easthampton to work with producer Justin Pizzoferrato, who helped the foursome tap into a more robust sound.
Everything is bigger: vocals sit atop guitars that snarl and simmer, the drums crack forcefully and the band’s extra ingredient, trombone, cuts through with clarity. It suits the songs, which are brooding and somber, but with a lingering melodicism. Singer and guitarist Sam McGuire sings with a light rasp on “Big Blue” as he threads his voice through knotted tangles of minor-key guitar. A track later, on “Instigator,” his skinned-knee guitar licks steer the song as bassist Devon Murphy and drummer Sam Hankins play a lockstep rhythm and Tony Massi provides subtle accompaniment on trombone.
McGuire’s lyrical themes are often downhearted — the title of “Grief” speaks for itself as he reflects on a love that collapsed — but he’s more of a philosophizer than a wallower. “If I didn’t make you leave / I wouldn’t find a way to make you stay,” he sings on “Windchimes,” which opens with a wash of guitar, drums and trombone before McGuire lays into a complex, stuttering riff that changes meter.
“Windchimes” and “Instigator” are the two new songs on The Case, while “Grief,” “Big Blue” and the opening track, the hooky, churning “Preppers,” are the carryovers that the band reworked. Though less than a year separates the two releases, the band sounds tighter and more cohesive, a progression that’s sure to carry over to whatever the Case do next.
Deep Trees Fall Hard on New Single ‘Extraordinary’
Song descriptions don’t get much more evocative than the one Summer Redko came up with for “Extraordinary,” her new single as Deep Trees. “It’s about falling for someone so hard you forget how stairs work,” Redko wrote on Instagram, and who wouldn’t want to hear what that’s all about? Just watch your step.
The track has a throwback club feel, and Redko sings the soaring hook in a rich, supple voice. Synths seem to sparkle as they cascade through the verses, and a roaring electric guitar swells up on the chorus over a danceable beat holds the whole thing together.
The song is Redko’s first as Deep Trees since the 2020 single “Just Get Deep.” It’s also the lead single from a forthcoming EP, Smoking in Airports, that’s due later this year. Though her catalog as Deep Trees is scant so far, Redko has been involved in music for a while. In addition to working as a sound engineer in recording studios, she has written music that has appeared in a handful of indie films and some mass-market TV shows, including Basketball Wives LA, MTV's Catfish, Made, My Super Sweet Sixteen and Paula Deen’s Southern Kitchen Chaos.
Upcoming Concerts
Easthampton band the Journals Kept play the Marigold Theater this Saturday, July 26, with Pittsburgh’s Anti-Corn League, Dylan Patrick Ward and Teen Driver. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8.
After an undercard spot at the Green River Festival last month, Kathleen Edwards returns to Western Mass. Oct. 18 with a show at the Academy of Music in Northampton (tickets). Edwards’ new album, Billionaire, is out Aug. 22 (Jason Isbell co-produced and played guitar on it).
Also at the Academy: Dar Williams Feb. 20 (tickets). The former Northampton resident also has a new album on the way: Hummingbird Highway is out Sept. 12.
The Iron Horse hosts Merce Lemon Sept. 21 (tickets), American Idol also-ran Crystal Bowersox Sept. 22 (tickets), Ali McGuirk Sept. 25 (tickets), Catie Curtis and Maia Sharp Oct. 19 (tickets), Madi Diaz Oct 21 (tickets), a High Tea album release show Oct. 30 (tickets), Marshall Crenshaw with James Mastro Nov. 9 (tickets), Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman Nov. 13 (tickets) and Nashville folk-pop quartet the Arcadian Wild Nov. 19 (tickets). Also, Erin McKeown presents a cabaret version of Virginia, a new stage musical in progress, Nov. 21 (tickets), and Willie Nile is there Nov. 22 (tickets).
The Parlor Room schedule includes Christopher Paul Stelling and Tall Tall Trees Oct. 30 (tickets).
The Drake in Amherst has White Reaper Oct. 17 with Lip Critic and World’s Worst (tickets), the Sloppy Boys Oct. 24 (tickets), Florry Nov. 20 with John Andrews & the Yawns (tickets) and Cleveland reggae/rock/funk band Tropidelic Dec. 4 (tickets).
This one’s big: LCD Soundsystem play two nights Sept. 11-12 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (night one and night two).
If Jeff Tweedy’s solo show this week at Tree House Brewing left you eager for more, he returns Oct. 17 to District Music Hall in Norwalk (tickets). The Wilco frontman releases a new solo triple-album, Twilight Override, Sept. 26.
The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts Ted Leo Sept. 7 (tickets), White Reaper et. al. Oct. 18 (tickets), the Sloppy Boys Oct. 22 (tickets), Acid Mothers Temple Oct. 23 (tickets) and Flock of Dimes (a.k.a. Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak) Nov. 7 (tickets).
That’s all for now, but Freak Scene will be back next week with more new music. 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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