Alpenglow And Joseph At First Unitarian Universalist Church In Burlington, VT October 19, 2014
Words by Tim Lewis.
I had a great time seeing music tonight. I’ve seen Alpenglow a couple of times and really liked them. They just released an EP that was recorded at a church in Middlebury, that they named Chapel. They set up a tour of 5 churches in New England and New York, and one was the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Burlington. Woo hoo.
Money was a bit tight, but Britt Shorter hooked me up with a ticket, so just after 7, I took the lovely walk through the chilly, windy Autumn evening, to the church at the top of Church street. I met up with Britt around the corner from the church, got a ticket, then stopped in for a quick drink at the OP. Around quarter of 8, I headed back to the church and was delighted to find that just outside the front door they were giving away cups of hot mulled cider. It was perfect on such a cool night, though hot enough to take some time to cool down. Just inside the door I ran into Alyssa Solomon, who did a killer job at the sound desk for the ROUGH FRANCIS show at The Monkey House last week. We chatted music for a bit, then headed in to the show.
Joseph came on first and enchanted the room with their delicately beautiful songs. They are three sisters from Portland Oregon, with voices like angels. One played acoustic guitar, and all three sang. The harmonies were gorgeous and the songs had just enough strength to keep me happy. The natural reverberation of the room let every note flow to a beautiful conclusion. The audience was completely silent, except to explode with applause between songs. Their set was wonderful and I was fortunate to have been there.
After they wrapped up, there was a 20 minute, or so, break, then Alpenglow took the stage. With low lights shining on the high stage, they unfurled the mellow intoxicating songs that make up the new EP. The music has a fantastic mix of quietness and power and they had the audience listening in silent appreciation. The low lights cast green shadows on the wall and it was fun to mix up watching the band and their shadows. They played all five songs on Chapel then said they would play some of their newer songs. The pace picked up into a mix of Jangle Pop and Americana, and all the songs were really fun. The last two new ones really rocked. It was great to see them let loose a bit and let the songs soar. After several new ones they said they had two more and switched gears a bit. They went back to the title song of their first EP Solitude. It brought cheers of recognition from the audience. It is one of those songs that after you hear a couple of times, you will just love forever. I thought they might follow it with Catskills, but they played something with a drenched organ intro and I was elated. It was a great song and when they left the stage, the audience quietly but reverently asked for another. They came right back out and Catskills sounded great and rocked hard at the end. I’m so glad I went. I think my soul is still humming from the experience.
This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.