KS Issue #1: The Wooden Sky, Swear and Shake, David Wax Museum

Words // Scott Pingeton
Video // Steve Legare

As part of the partnership between Kitchen Sessions and Visible Voice, we'll be digging back into the KS archives and pulling out some of our favorite audio and video from past house shows.  This is the first in what we hope will be a series of monthly installments - and it features some incredible stuff.  Enjoy - and please let us know what you think in the comments.

KS #18: The Wooden Sky

The Wooden Sky is one of my favorite bands in the world, and I've made no secret of that fact over the past few months.  Gavin Gardiner's songs are so finely crafted, and the band so adept at conveying a feeling through music.  But what's so great about this band is that they can pull off an echo-drenched jam or a banjo-folk shuffle, a whisper-quiet folk tune or a stomping call-to-arms.  Or, for example, "Malibu Rum" from their fantastic new record Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon A Sun - a melancholy lament set against a breezy coconut-scented melody - perfectly evocative.  (website)

KS#21: Swear and Shake

I discovered Swear and Shake by accident, but I fell in love immediately.  I was at the BOMB festival in Hartford and was on my way between stages when they caught my ear.  A song or two later I was convinced I had to book them for the Newport Nightcap afterparty - which they agreed to do.  Kari Spieler's voice is other-worldly, and the band's mix of indie folk and pop is irresistible.  I am anxiously awaiting their debut LP, which will include "These White Walls".  This video in particular really captures the spirit of Kitchen Sessions - great music in an intimate space.  (website)

KS #1: David Wax Museum
This set pre-dates the Kitchen Sessions name - and in many ways it inspired what Steve and company have done since.  I was lucky enough to be there that night - a cold, rainy, miserable night in March 2010.  I didn't know David Wax Museum at all, but I left a lifelong fan.  Hearing these songs - many of which would not be released until nearly a year later on Everything is Saved - was a revelation.  This was pre-Newport Folk, pre-NPR Music...just four incredible musicians playing to a room full of strangers and blowing away every single one of them away.  House shows like these were the bricks in the foundation on which they continue to build greater and greater success.  (website)

David Wax Museum
Kitchen Session #1
March 30, 2010

Beekeeper
Beatrice
The Persimmon Tree
Unfruitful
(Banter)
Rosamar
Yes, Maria, Yes
Donkey In My Soul
Banter
Look What You've Done To Me
Carpenter Bird
Si Te Vas
That's Not True
Let Me Rest
Colas
When You Are Still
The Great Unawakening

Full set download: mp3 zip