Open a door that leads in from to cold, into a corner bar with cozy booths and craft beer. Imagine art prints on the wall and neon signs bright against a burgundy backdrop. A stage across the room holds three people you don't know yet, but still came to see. Feel the reward of a weeknight adventure out of simple curiosity. Come sit down with me in the low light of a favorite place in Minneapolis, and listen to the songs of Glad Friends. 

Come join me in the moment I first heard Eustace the Dragon perform live.

Jessica Smith and Danny and Amanda Churchill make beautiful, low-fi folk melodies that are multi-layered, rich in anywhere from two to seven part harmonies. And their new 16-track record, Glad Friends, has been a long time coming. I first saw them about five years ago, and since they have woven their folk music and their friendship deeply into my understanding of what it means to feel welcome, at home, familiar. Their joy radiates before them, tendrils of tender inspiration reaching far and wide in the Twin Cities music scene. 

Listening to Eustace is an exercise in patience, one of peace and holding your palms open to the world around you. They made a meditation out of music, in the same way that sitting next to a campfire lulls one into a calm and communal moment. Its as intimate as it comes; sometimes a single voice and an acoustic guitar, other times a tower of brass, strings, and layered harmonies so thick you could stick your hands in them and grad a hold. In their minds, the more the merrier. 

Glad Friends is a gift they made to share. So please join them to celebrate this achievement, whether from near or afar. 

Eustace the Dragon LP Release
with Humbird and Sister Species 
Thursday, September 28th at Icehouse
​doors 9:30 / music 10
$8 advance / $10 door, 21+
Featuring Julie Thoreen (Har-di-Har), Jess Nelson and Liz Akhavan (Jacob Champlain & the Blue Jays), Hannah and Evalyn Tjoflat, Andrew Thoreen (Har-di-Har), William Samsel and Peter Miller (We are the Willows). ​

I'm going to take a rough guess and say I'm not the first person to consider 2017 a stressful year in terms of national and international events. And it's only September. It just feels harder to stay sane and keep stress levels in a reasonable range when the threat of nuclear war looms eerily close, action to reduce or mitigate climate change is being thrown to the wind in America, and human rights are being treated as rather disposable by the country that is supposed to be leading the world in these kinds of things. 

If you're like me, it has become difficult to keep anxiety in check and focus on the day to day routine of one's life. My patience is much thinner than normal. I often feel defeated. But there are certain things that still seem to help in this situation, such as music. So here are some of my favorite releases thus far in 2017, that I find myself returning to regularly. Maybe they will do a measurable good for you as well. 
​

9:30 Club
​Washington, D.C. 
August 5, 2017

© Kelsey Simpkins 
No sharing or use of images allowed without permission 

MONAKR

Mew