Freak Scene #89: High Tea Are All Grown Up on 'A Small Notion'
Plus, Connecticut musician and radio host Binnie Klein wrote an anti-authoritarian protest song in the run-up to the No Kings rallies
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we celebrate the new album by Northampton-area duo High Tea, and hear a new protest song from Hamden’s Binnie Klein, by way of Christopher Mir.
With apologies to Neil Sedaka, it’s growing up that is hard to do on A Small Notion, the second full-length release from High Tea. The duo of Isabella DeHerdt and Isaac Eliot wrestle with the inevitability of change and the gradual onset of grown-up responsibilities on many of these 11 tracks, which comprise the follow-up to High Tea’s 2020 full-length debut, Hell of a Ride. (The band plays an album-release show Oct. 30 at the Iron Horse with Jessye DeSilva; tickets.)
Like the subjects of their songs, DeHerdt and Eliot have grown up, too. They’ve known each other since they were teens, and there’s a maturity to these songs, emotionally and musically, as they explore variations on a folk-punk sound. The duo leans more toward snarly on “Stray in Lee County,” which starts with a terse bassline and expands into a wash of churning guitars and heavy rhythm as DeHerdt (also of Kalliope Jones) sings about a kid trying to rise above “the dirty underbelly of a patriotic dream” into which they were born. Later, High Tea take a gentler approach on “Bittersweet Evenings,” a remembrance of warm summer evenings that fade all too soon into the chill of autumn. Electric guitar licks dance over a bed of acoustic guitar and brushed drums, though the main focus here is on the tight, wistful vocal harmonies among DeHerdt, Eliot and Cloudbelly singer Corey Laitman.
The song is one of a handful of mellower tunes on A Small Notion. More often, High Tea evoke a sense of tension that manifests as a bluesy stomp on “Heartbreak Kid,” where DeHerdt’s rugged guitar riff circles ominously around Eliot’s pounding backbeat. There’s a more puckish feel on “Ouch, Oh Shit,” where Eliot starts by giving voice to teenage anxiety without succumbing to it on lyrics that are a droll catalog of shortcomings. Synths intersect with guitars on the verses before DeHerdt adds her voice on the hooky, shout-out-loud chorus.
High Tea end on a melancholy note with “Shadows in Shadows,” featuring vocals from Heather Maloney (DeHerdt and Eliot backed Maloney on Exploding Star, her album from earlier this year). Featuring guitars and a pounding beat, the song is something of a reminiscence, though the narrator could well be a ghost who is at once observing and unobserved. It’s a powerful finish to a resonant album that finds High Tea stepping into adulthood without relinquishing the idealism of youth.
Binnie Klein Decries ‘Unfit Rulers’ on ‘No Kings’
When last we heard from Binnie Klein, the Hamden radio host, songwriter and therapist had just released Quiver, a cross-continental collaboration with the Australian singer Tartie that they recorded under the name In These Trees. Klein keeps things closer to home on “No Kings,” a song written by Klein and recorded by Christopher Mir, an artist and musician who used to live in New Haven. (She wrote about writing protest songs in her own newsletter.)
Klein wrote the song “in a hot minute” in the lead-up to the No Kings rallies Oct. 18 that saw as many as 6.5 million people rally for democracy in 2,700 locations across the country, in opposition to the authoritarian consolidation of power in Washington D.C. She sang it for Mir when they were chatting on a Zoom call and asked if he would try recording the tune, which features simple chord changes and a hooky minor-key melody. In Mir’s hands, “No Kings” conveys the urgency that brought protestors into the streets.
Mir, who now lives in Maine, has had his Photorealism paintings included in exhibitions at Artspace in New Haven, Mass MoCA, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield and Galería Senda in Barcelona. He’s received favorable write-ups in Artforum and The New York Times, among other publications. He also makes his own music, with an approach that has evolved from a DIY indie-rock sound to minimalist synth-pop on his 2018 album Fight or Flight.
In addition to writing songs, Klein is a longtime DJ on WPKN-FM (89.5), Bridgeport’s community radio station. Her show, “A Miniature World,” expands to three hours twice a month starting Nov. 6, and is now available as a podcast through Apple.
This Weekend
Les Dérailleurs play Saturday at UMass with Bunnies, Tysk Tysk Task and Sgraffito Kill. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Bernie Dallas Room in Goodell Hall; donations are accepted at the door.
The MISTER G Halloween Fiesta happens this Sunday, Oct. 26, at 11 a.m. for free (details).
Upcoming Concerts
Wow: when Wilco’s biannual Solid Sound Festival returns to Mass MoCA June 26-28, Billy Bragg and Wilco will perform a full set of music from Mermaid Avenue together for the FIRST TIME EVER. They famously did not get along in the late ’90s during sessions for what became three albums of lyrics that Woody Guthrie wrote, but never published or recorded. Three-day passes are already available.
The Back Porch Festival returns to Northampton March 27-29, with a lineup that includes I’m With Her and Olive Krug (tickets), the Grateful Dead drag tribute Bertha: Grateful Drag (tickets) and Peter Rowan with Sam Grisman, playing Old and In the Way (tickets). They’re all at the Academy of Music; other performers and venues to come.
The Iron Horse in Northampton hosts the Myrtle Street Klezmer Chanukah Carnival Dec. 14 for a free brunch show, a pair of Livingston Taylor shows Jan. 11 (matinee and evening), experimental folk musician Jesca Hoop Jan. 18 (tickets), Ondara Jan. 20 (tickets), Tarta Relena with Meara O'Reilly Jan. 24 (tickets), veteran back-up singer Ms. Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton March 1 (tickets), Cass McCombs March 22 (tickets), Tuvan throat singers Alash April 15 (tickets) and Leo Kottke April 19 (tickets).
Mark Erelli, Samirah Evans, Peter Mulvey, Jenna Nicholls and the Deep River Ramblers perform the songs of Randy Newman Dec 10 at the Drake in Amherst in the latest installment of the Back Porch songwriter series (tickets). Maryland ska/reggae band Bumpin' Uglies are there Jan. 16 (tickets).
Northampton band Bring It to Bear return to the stage Nov. 16 at the Marigold Theater, with Peter Mulvey (tickets). Bear leader Adam Zucker (also of Outro) promises new songs “about animals, the ground, books and smashing bottles on the gravel next to the Mill River” when he and bandmates Kris Delmhorst, David Goodrich and Jason Smith reunite.
College Street Music Hall in New Haven hosts Del Water Gap Jan. 26 (tickets) and the Last Dinner Party April 17 (tickets).
That’ll do it for this week. Thank you for reading! If you like what you’ve seen, please share with friends, neighbors, friends’ neighbors, whomever. Also, I’m always open to 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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