Despite anxiety and unease in the air all around the globe, Ithaca’s soul/rock/pop/prog ensemble Noon Fifteen returns to Finish What You Started, their series of thematic releases with a focus of confronting your fears. Three new songs from the collection — “Dinosaurs,” “Easy,” and “Scared To” — will be released via the band’s podcast and YouTube channel between Halloween and Thanksgiving, coinciding with the 2020 U.S. Presidential election and the waning of this frightening year.
The first release of the three, “Easy,” tackles internal and external conflicts that keep us standing still, pairing with the soon to be released “Scared To.” Watch the video from vocalist/guitarist Mandy Goldman.
Additionally, keyboardist Samuel B. Lupowitz’s composition “Dinosaurs” examines the danger and violence wrought by outmoded political philosophies.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has kept Noon Fifteen apart for most of 2020, the band members have remained productive. Goldman, Lupowitz, Harry Nichols (bass/vocals), Joe Massa (guitar), and Phil Shay (drums/vocals have released two standalone singles this year, “Thaw” in March and the found-sounds creation “Outside” in August. Pre-quarantine, on Halloween 2019, the band released their 22-minute rock opera,At the Festival.
The initial installments in the Finish What You Started song cycle, “The Cell,” “The Tick,” and the title track, were released in the summer of 2019 during Noon Fifteen’s “Julyfecta” run of shows. While those tracks were recorded in a tiny studio at Cornell University, the new releases continue the band’s collaboration with Chris Ploss at Sunwood Recording in Trumansburg, NY, with mid-pandemic finishing touches recorded at Lupowitz and Goldman’s new home studio in Ithaca.
Each of the Finish What You Started track is accompanied by an interactive 360* video, allowing the viewer to observe the band’s performance from the center of the recording studio. A behind-the-scenes podcast, hosted by Dan Cole, founder and longtime host of WVBR-FM’s “Tuesdays with the Band,” will reveal details about the writing and recording of the songs, as well as the band’s influences, inspirations, and offbeat sense of humor.
Since their 2017 debut,Volume 1, Noon Fifteen has leveraged a why-not, can-do attitude and a proudly DIY aesthetic to present their music to the world. As we said of their debut, Noon Fifteen is “a small town band with a big imagination,” with five friends aiming to deliver fun, forward-thinking songs bathed in layered vocals and old school instrumentation.
The final installments of Finish What You Started will be released in 2021.
Syracuse quartet, Vaporeyes, is set to release its sophomore album Cantrips this Friday the 13th. This comes on the heels of Vaporeyes’ eponymous first album, a Syracuse Area Music Award winner just last year. Both albums were beautifully produced by More Sound Recording Studio and are quite the sonic achievement.
“Cantrips is an old Scot word that basically means a magical spell of any kind” says Jonas Reddy-Nicholson (keyboards, vocals) when asked about the meaning of the name. He goes on to say, “Cantrips is also what they call the type of spells one can cast at any time in the game Dungeons & Dragons.” The band ended up tying the new album thematically to a D&D campaign that they played together.
And play together, they do. Stylistically they fit snugly into the jam genre. Pat Tierney (guitar) is such a versatile player. He can solo and do the heavy jam riffing so familiar to fans of the jam scene. But he also steps back and lets the other players in the band shine in their roles. “Juice” opens the new album and has a psychedelic, escapist vibe to it. The ethereal vocals and keyboards from Reddy-Nicholson lay the foundation. And the rhythm section members, Shannon Zory (bass) and Sean Cadley (drums) only accentuate the flow.
But before you close your eyes and float away, the band changes things up, shaking the listener from the dream state. One of my favorite examples of this on the new album is “Donye Wump.” Cadley on the drums turns the tempo up and brings everyone along with him. Zory’s bass lines are a joy here, too – thumping, moving and bumping. Hearing this song live is an absolute blast.
The members of Vaporeyes all live together, which made all band activities (band meetings, practices, livestream performances and working on new music) all that much easier to schedule and follow through on. Moving into the Covid-19 lockdowns of this past Spring, the band was in a unique position. They had an abundance of time together and really were able to do even more work on the music and new album. When their gig money dried up, they launched what turned out to be an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign to fund Cantrips. It wasn’t just a win for Vaporeyes. Give this album a listen. This is a win for all of us!
Key Tracks: Juice, Donye Wump, Peregrine
For more Vaporeyes information, as well as recordings of their excellent “Quarantine Jams” can be found on Vaporeyes’ Facebook page.
Utica’sall grown up boy wonder guitar god, Joe Bonamassa, has just unleashed another fantastic solo album, Royal Tea. Recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. Bonamassa’s latest is a tip of the hat to his British blues rock heroes, Jeff Beck, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Led Zeppelin, Cream and more. It is also as much a showcase for his increasingly progressive and mature songwriting, as is his always sizzling six-stringery.
The 10 originals here were co-written by Joe and Brit notables including former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden, ex-Cream lyricist Pete Brown and piano man Jools Holland of Squeeze fame. Bonamassa’s long-standing producer Kevin Shirley and his touring band, Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass) and Reese Wynans (keys), flew in for the sessions.
While Royal Tea is a nod to British blues masters, it is not at all about retreading the classics, or the simple but saintly joys of going round and round the 1-4-5 pattern. It’s an album full of songs that are firmly rooted in a blues feel, but with very progressive and surprising leanings. It’s all about the unexpected chordal turnarounds and multi-movements that span epic length, things that owe more than a bit to Brit prog acts of the ‘70s.
Bonamassa sets the tone with the album opener, “When One Door Opens.” It kicks off with baroque strings and brass that could’ve been mustered up by another true Abbey Road legend, Beatles’ producer George Martin. It’s a mournful ballad that feels a bit like Guns N’ Roses “November Rain,” until it shift into a nasty Led Zep-styled groove and then a boogie for a screaming wah-fueled solo. It solo winds down with rhythmic quote from “Beck’s Bolero,” before returning to the mournful orchestral mood for the close. A ballsy move, as this one clocks in at 7:34, making it the longest track on the album.
The title track follows. It’s another hard blues with a thick slamming groove and unexpected descending chordal turnaround, and yet another Beck-era Yardbirds’ quote in the solo. Here and everywhere on the album Joe’s guitar tones are killer, honey thick and biting. And his solos here are kept brief, always in service of the song. And why not? Joe’s got one of the world’s best employed vintage guitar collections to make these varied sounds, a virtual museum that can be viewed here.
“Why Does It Take So Long to Say Goodbye” is another of the many slow grooves here. Joe wrenches every bit of emotion out of the melody, with his guitar playing and his vocals, the latter which gets better in each passing album. This is another blues in a few epic movements over its six and a half minutes, where he complements thick power chording with sweet flourishes on his acoustic.
For a John Lee Hooker-styled boogie, with extra crunch, turn up “High Class Girl;” for a bit of Southern rock and slide, tap into “A Conversation with Alice.” On “Lonely Boy,” Joe and company go for broke, with a sprightly big band jump blues with rocking’ horn parts. Some beautiful soloing from Jools Holland and what must be flashy chromatic runs on a vintage Telecaster from Joe. This is a track that would be totally at home on a Brian Setzer album.
One of my favorites is the offbeat “Lookout Man!” This one combines another Jimmy Page-styled riff with Space Rock sound effects a la Gong/Steve Hillage, with a nasty blues harp and a chorus of female singers that sound like Ike and Tina Turner’s Ikettes. “Savannah” ends the album on an up tempo, with slamming’ country picking and a droney fiddle.
This week Royal Tea made a big splash on the charts, earning Joe Bonamassa his 24th #1 album on the Blues Chart, an incredible feat, more than any other artist in the history of the chart! More importantly, it’s gaining Joe fans beyond the narrow blues niche. He’s #5 on Current Albums, #6 on Indie Albums, #7 in Rock and #7 in Rock charts.
Bands like Cream and Zeppelin were successful because they took to the wonderful foundation of American electric blues and did something new and different with, with each album as their careers progressed. Bonamassa deserves their level of success because he is following in their progressive and bold footsteps.
KeyTracks: When One Door Opens, Why Does It Take So Long to Say Goodbye, Lookout Man!
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear the latest EP from Slaughterhouse Chorus, Trampoline Jetstream and more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
… In the Name of Progress is the first Slaughterhouse Chorus recording to a music collective, Built4BBQ. Albany audio extraordinaire Ryan Slowey tracked the band live in vocalist Chris Jordan’s rural Rensselear County cabin, resulting in a lean and mean collection that fully represents their on-stage energy and lyric-driven songwriting. While the band’s previous recordings occasionally incorporated an “Honorary Chorus” of auxiliary instrumentation ranging from banjos to horn sections, … In the Name of Progress relies entirely on two electric guitars, bass, drums, and vocals – with the notable exception of one high-lonesome bluegrass harmony section provided by John “Henry’s Rifle” Pipino and Dan Wilson of Kimono Dragons and the Rechorduroys.
From the opening garage-punk ripper “Greenplates” to the ZZ Top thump of “Used Tombstones”, from the signature country-punk barnburning of “Hambone” and “Pedestrians” to the cathartic dirge of closing track “Wellsville”, … In the Name of Progress finds The Slaughterhouse Chorus stretching their sound into narrative songs that unfold like short stories set to boot-stomping sing-alongs. Simultaneously pared down to basics and more expansive than anything else they’ve recorded, it’s a fitting swan song for a band that’s spent ten years doing things their own weird way.”
As for what’s happening now, even with The Slaughterhouse Chorus coming to an end, the band never really stopped getting together to write and record new music. Weekly basement practices due to COVID precautions were put on hold, and later moved to Chris’ socially distanced garage and started working on fleshing out a batch of Chet Atkins/Jerry Reed style acoustic guitar ideas he’d been kicking around for years that never really fit in with Slaughterhouse. This evolved into a project they’re calling Timing. It has a lot of the country/Americana side of Slaughterhouse, but much more weirdness and much less punk rock.
Utica’s Trampoline Jetstream will also be featured on this week’s EQXposure, with Pearson spinning their song “Jerry.”
The four person indie rock band began to record “Jerry” in Utica two years ago. Before they could finish, vocalist Nick Vanderwood suffered an injury that left him unable to sing. The band put the project on hold until February 2020, just before the COVID epidemic put everything on pause. Trampoline Jetstream had finished recording, but had to delay production and gigs further. Read more on Trampoline Jetstream here.
Layafette Apple Festival, just south of Syracuse, will enter 2021 as a regular stop for touring bands as we ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, and assuredly should continue to be a destination for live music moving forward. Over October 29-31, The Disco Biscuits performed to large crowds in Lafayette who were hungry for the often imitated, never duplicated release that live music provides, and in doing so put an exclamation point on the Northeast Drive-In season.
Having performed in Syracuse on Halloween in 2015 at Crouse Hinds Hall, and again last year in November at SI Hall at the State Fairgrounds, The Disco Biscuits are regulars across New York State. They’ve hosted their Camp Bisco Music Festival numerous times between Van Etten, Hunter and Mariaville over 2005-2013, and make regular stops at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, among other venues.
photo by Dave Decrescente
Even with the rain that pounded the grounds on Thursday night, the staff assisted fans if they got stuck and took necessary measures to ensure a smooth entry and egress from the grounds. The crowd did their part two by following the lead of the staff, abiding by basic social distancing norms and remaining confined to their assigned spots for the evening.
But being ‘confined’ to your car area has its perks. The physical space around your vehicle is greater than you might find perched up in the crowd at a music festival, and with limited interference from others. While at a festival, you have the spatial boundaries to dance and enjoy the performance, but others are close by so your volume and limbic movements are limited by comparison, or at least contrained to social norms and appropriate levels of touching.
During COVID-19 times, touching is limited just to your personal bubble, and within your space at an event such as the Disco Biscuits, or Dirty Heads a week earlier, you have an immense amount of freedom to dance with unbridled abandon and exuberance, having only a thin tape of elastic and the proximity to your car and spot-mates keeping you confined. Even at temperatures hovering around freezing, there were major benefits to the layout of these Drive-In shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sA9org5T4
Thursday night’s performance was marred by an intense amount of rain, which led to the stream on CouchTour.TV to be lost – although they quickly replaced the stream with footage from Drive-In shows earlier in October. The night started out wet, and led to a shortened first set. The crashing of rain and its deafening sound brought out a fitting “Magellan” with a “Widow in the Rain” bustout mixed in between.
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Thursday, October 29, 2020
Set 1: 7-11-> Lunar Pursuit-> Minions-> Miracles Set 2: World is Spinning, Magellan-> Gangster-> Helicopters (inverted)-> Widow in the Rain-> Magellan Encore: Frog Legs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUsDCZ9GmPY
On Friday night, the band waited until 7:45pm to take the stage, allowing for all to have sufficient time to enter the muddy grounds and safely arrive in their spot. The first set lasted roughly an hour, and featured one of the new songs performed last fall in Syracuse, “Freebis Slinky.” Entering into set two, “Highwire” kicked things into high gear, while a late set “Pimp Blue Rikki” gave was to rising star of the Biscuits’ catalog, “Clocks.”
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Friday, October 30, 2020
Set 1: Portal to an Empty Head, Freebis Slinky-> Rock Candy-> Grass is Green (inverted)-> Rock Candy Set 2: Highwire-> Astronaut-> Crickets-> Mindless Dribble-> Pimp Blue Rikki, Clocks Encore: Station
photo by Dave Decrescente
One thing that is amplified in the Drive-In setting is behavior that would otherwise be incidental at a normal show. Case in point, leaving a show before the encore. Normally, you would just excuse yourself, walk out of the venue without issue, and there’s a little more space for everyone else to enjoy the encore. This happens, rarely with cause for event, and is a forgettable exchange at best.
But at a Drive-In show, the counterpart to leaving early is a bit more engaging with your neighbors than just ducking out to beat the crowd. Provided there is no medical emergency, the act of starting your car, turning on headlights and beginning to drive out while others nearby are still enjoying the show is rude and, when weather is mixed in, can be dangerous and obnoxious. If not a venue policy, the general norm of not leaving until the show is fully over should be considered for all Drive-In shows, for safety and general courtesy of all who paid top dollar for these limited live music experiences.
photo by Dave Decrescente
Halloween found the band walking out wearing sweatshirts that bore V, O, T and E, making it clear what their message was this Halloween – let’s get down, then on Tuesday, let’s get down to business and vote.
“Rockafella” launched the first set into the night, giving way to an unfinished “Little Betty Boop,” which led into a large “Morph Dusseldorf” sandwich, layered with a tease of the James Bond theme (in honor of Sean Connery, who died earlier that day), “Feeling Twisted” and a thorough “Abraxas.” After an incredibly lengthy set break, the band returned with “Save the Robots,” taking a patient stroll through the composition’s open space, leading to an extensive, tension building pause where the band got spooky, before finally dropping back into the jam, spawning an eruption throughout the audience.
photo by Dave Decrescente
A monstrous “Orch Theme” arose with the ominous synth out of the year-old “Running Into the Night,” which did the heavy lifting in following the top notch “Robots” and kept the set flowing from jam to jam. An inverted “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” surfaced before diving down into a nasty “The Great Abyss” before returning to “Running Into the Night.”
For an encore, Gary Numan’s “Cars” was the most fitting song of the weekend, if not the whole run of Drive-In shows. The first cover of the song in over 10 years, “Cars” let the band stretch their legs in the New Wave classic, before shifting into the semi-rare “Naeba” and back into “Cars,” a perfect encore choice after a high energy second set, keeping up the dance vibe all throughout. With post-show music of Poolside’s “Harvest Moon,” the crowd carefully made their way out of the grounds and off into the night.
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Saturday, October 31, 2020
Set 1: Rockafella, Little Betty Boop (unfinished)-> Morph Dusseldorf-> Feeling Twisted-> Abraxas (unfinished)-> Morph Dusseldorf Set 2: Save the Robots, Running into the Night-> Orch Theme-> Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (inverted)-> The Great Abyss-> Running into the Night Encore: Cars-> Naeba (inverted)-> Cars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uz8BpvENlg
Hopefully this isn’t the last Disco Biscuits show of the year, but it likely won’t be the last at Lafayette Apple Festival. We look forward to 2021 mixing Drive-In shows with the return of live music to the venues across New York and the rest of the country.
The four person indie rock band began to record “Jerry” in Utica two years ago. Before they could finish, vocalist Nick Vanderwood suffered an injury that left him unable to sing. The band put the project on hold until February 2020, just before the COVID epidemic put everything on pause. Trampoline Jetstream had finished recording, but had to delay production and gigs further.
The band joked that the album was cursed. “At one point we almost abandoned the project completely to begin writing a new album,” said drummer Adam Manion. “In the end, we felt too strongly about these songs and decided to release them as an EP.”
It’s no shock that Trampoline Jetstream couldn’t abandon the project – the songs are incredibly personal. “These songs really are about figuring out your place in the world and wishing you could rewind yourself,” said guitarist Alex Verbickas. This feeling is present in “Jerry,” which “was inspired by a feeling of nostalgia and longing for youthful memories that have passed while also growing older” noted on the band’s SoundCloud. The indie band draws inspiration from different genres but pulls it all together with solid guitar and lyrics. With their varied style, even their instrumentals have the same nostalgic quality that their lyrics speak about.
Fans are glad the band didn’t abandon “Jerry,” too. Audiences loved it so much that the band changed their name to the track’s first title, “Trampoline Jetstream.” Now, years later, those audiences along with the rest of the world can listen to “Jerry” and the other tracks to come.
The full EP, Jerry, will also feature “I Confide” and “Rewind/Barney’s Quadrant.” The band will follow it with a companion EP released early 2021. Stream “Jerry” and Trampoline Jetstream’s other music now on SoundCloud and Spotify. Follow the band on Instagram and Facebook so you don’t miss any updates on their new releases!
My extended family have tried to sell me on Bob Dylan’s music for years. Although it took them all my life, I’ve come to appreciate Dylan’s influence. The Folk and Americana genres have certainly grown on me. And I’m not the only one. Many folks listen to and play folk music. Need another example? Look no further than Charley Orlando — who is prepared to launch a new album, called Note to Self.
Photo by Ian LaRochelle
The new/old wave of Folk Music
It seems like just a few years ago, only independent artists exposed themselves as folk lyrics require. But recently, Top 40 artists such as Post Malone and Taylor Swift have both released charting records with folk backbone. As such, folk music has a lot of new listeners from the Millennial and Zoomer generations.
Looking at the music industry in terms of trends like this, Orlando could not have picked a better moment to release his new songs.
Orlando’s career spans 30 years with jam band Dexter Grove on his resume. But instead of a group with multiple instruments, Note to Self contains acoustic guitar and raw vocals almost exclusively.
But this doesn’t make the project any less ambitious. Note appears with visual aid with Orlando performing each song at various locations. And Orlando is an ambitious person with a cult following. Note holds a spot in a lineup of over fifteen releases, and it’s of course hard to say where this one falls. But it doesn’t matter. The album is accessible to those hearing Orlando for the first time.
Starting From the Bottom…
Like many of Dylan’s songs, you can pretty much start anywhere and you’ll eventually hear the right track. Both Orlando and Dylan’s lyrics make me think, “yeah, that is a good idea. He’s totally right.”
They say, “Less is more.”
The thing that draws me to this album is that unlike many albums of this year, Charley relies on few, if any, sound effects or ProTools plugins. While I do emphatically enjoy a good polished sugar pop album — such as the aforementioned Swift or Post — there is something wonderfully real about an acoustic guitar and a voice coming from a backyard or by a lake.
And it is real. Orlando convinces the listener of his true emotions in this effort while making larger statements about the world in 2020. Orlando leaves a positive impression while also asking relevant questions.
Another thing I find so accessible about this album is that — especially due to the visual element — Charley seems like a person that you could have a jam session with on your back porch, not the impossibly busy celebrity persona that surrounds many musicians. It is likely for this reason that Orlando has built himself a steady listener base without the aid of major labels or big advertisement.
That realness on Note to Self the exact same thing I enjoy so much about the Bob Dylan songs I’ve heard so far. And I don’t have to say much more about it, because good art sells itself.
Note to Self is available October 30th 2020 on all major streaming services.
The Dirty Heads performed in Lafayette, NY at the Apple Festival grounds on Saturday, October 24. The Drive-In style show was brought by Creative Concerts, one of the only promoters currently booking shows in the Syracuse region.
The concert experience was certainly a unique one. Concert goers had assigned parking spots by color coded rows. Each row had a limited amount of parking spaces made out of string barriers to ensure proper distancing between vehicles. Each row had their own designated restroom to use as well. The venue was equipped with large projector screens on each side of the stage to broadcast the performance. It ensured a good view no matter the location. The sound quality was good and the stage constructed to give off a music festival vibe.
The Set: Dirty Heads Lafayette
The Dirty Heads came on around 8pm, allowing everyone to get in their designated parking areas before the show started. While the temperature was brisk, 40 degrees, that did not stop the high energy performance and excitement from the crowd. For many, if not most of the people in attendance this was their first concert in at least 7-8 months. People were in very good spirits: laughing and smiling, BBQ-ing at their vehicles,and just enjoying the moment of experiencing live music- something that has been missing from a lot of our lives this past year.
All the band members were dressed appropriately for the weather: jackets, gloves and hats. It is still a strange site to see an entire band performing all bundled up. However, it did not effect their performance at all as they flowed through a 21-song setlist. Dierits such as “Oxygen”, “Burn Slow”, Vacation”, and “Dance All night”.
Dirty Heads performance in Lafayette gives high hopes, at least for the near future of live music. The ability to successfully and most important, safely put on a show with a large draw of people while adhering to all guidelines in regards to the pandemic.
The next shows at Lafayette Apple Festival Grounds will be The Disco Buscuits performing for three nights, October 29, 30, and 31. More info can be found from Creative Concerts.
The Syracuse Area Music Awards announces dates and criteria for their 2021 award show. The Syracuse Area Music Awards or more commonly known as the Sammys will be taking place on March 5th and will stream free on their website here. The awards show ceremony will stream live from SubCat Studios and will include musical performances by area artists and bands.
The Sammys was first held back at the Landmark Theater in 1993. The Sammys award show has become the number one local music award event in the Central New York Area over the years. SubCat Studios was founded back in 2001 as a DIY project studio in Skaneateles, NY. It now resides in Armory Square in Syracuse, NY and is owned by Ron Keck who has been working with digital recording since 1989. Today the studio is known for it’s high-quality studio recording, remote recording, audio mixing and mastering.
There will be a number of awards that will be presented this year. There will be 12 recording categories, there will be 4 People’s Choice awards categories, the Brian Bourke Award for Best New Artist, the Jack O. Bocchino Spirit of the Sammys Award, and the Community Spirit Award.
Submission rules will be a little different this year starting with all artist recorded submissions be accepted online only. Recorded submissions will begin December 1, 2020. Furthermore each artist must select one category they wish to be judged in and their recorded work can only consist of commercially released albums or EPs, released between January 1 – December 31, 2020 by artists in the Syracuse area are eligible. All entries must be available on Apple Music, Spotify or Tidal. No physical recordings will be accepted. Categories subject to change at the discretion of the judges. Entry form will be available here and must be submitted by January 6, 2021.
There are a lot of supporting sponsors of the awards show for 2021. The sponsored include: The Rebel Rocks, Bridge Street, SubCat Music Studios, CNY Alive!, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, KMASE Productions, Joshua Johnson Design, Skinner & Associates Realty, American Vintage Productions, NYS Music, News Channel 9, 95X, 93Q, and 92.1 The WOLF, and 315 Music.
For more information visit the Syracuse Area Music Awards website.
Ithaca-based and indie-folk musician Sarah Noell released her first solo EP Retreat To Space on Friday, October 16 on all streaming platforms.
Album cover art for Retreat To Space
Noell was originally in the band Wildflwr, along with her mates Nick Scollard and Mary Cain, but the pandemic forced her to experiment with her music independently.
I wasn’t sure I could do this by myself, a year and a half ago Nick was still setting up all of my gear and Marty was booking all of our shows. This EP has shown me that, when forced to be alone, I can still learn and grow without the hand-holding of others, which I really needed before.
Sarah Noell
Growing up in rural Connecticut, Noell began her musical career at age 13, but didn’t take it seriously until after graduating from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. She stayed in the trendy city, where her music grew and flourished. Since then, has Wildflwr come out with multiple folky EPs, but when the pandemic put the band to a halt, she began writing her own songs.
Sarah Noell
According to Noell, this EP is about love, relationships and life over the years.
The EP is a collection of songs that reflect on my experiences in love, friendship, and solitude in the last five years or so. The title track ‘Retreat to Space’ reflects on a soured relationship but also deals with living mostly in my head, blurring reality, which is a recurring theme on the EP. I’m sure many people can relate, as we’ve all in a way retreated inwards during the pandemic.
Sarah Noell
The young musician hopes because live shows are on a break, that internet, social media and live streaming will pass her new music along.
If you’re in the mood to listen to some dreamy tunes and ponder about life, go one of the streaming platforms and enjoy the ride.
Retreat to Space is available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music and more.
