by Holli Stephens
Sunday afternoons around 3pm most people find comfort in taking the day off to relax or catch up on a good book. But right on the corner of Spring Garden and 37th cars, vans, and bikes alike parked outside to witness the June series of Sofar Sounds.
The intimate concerts of about 40 to 50 people happen in a resident’s living room and have now spread to 83 cities world-wide. Very little information is given out until a few days before the event. People who have RSVPed find out if they have secured a spot and a location is given, but the artists performing are never mentioned until the day of the show.
This was my second Sofar Sounds show and I felt just as excited and impatient as my previous experience. I found solace in figuring out the performing acts: Justin Pellecchia of Satellite Hearts, The Gallerist, and Little Comets.
Pellecchia begun as a solo guitar and vocal act. In a previous That Music Mag article about Satellite Hearts, we mentioned how Pellecchia’s voice is something that transcends time and can bring someone back to the era of peace, music, and love. Hearing him sing for the first time is almost startling as he could float from his natural voice up into a falsetto and gently back down to belt out the chorus of a song.
Justin Pellecchia (photo credit, Holli Stephens)
After his first number, Pellecchia was joined on stage by two more guitarists who accompanied him in heavenly harmonization to songs “Smoking Mirrors” and “Whisper on the Breeze”. Between songs Pellecchia would ask his bandmates, “Which do you wanna play?” and there would be a moment of awkward silence as they whispered among themselves. But every song’s introduction was met in the most collective manner and each guitarist would have a part that when played together would blend so well.
The Gallerist were veterans to the Sofar Sound lineup and had begun doing the series a year ago. I got the chance to speak with frontman Mike Collins and he was pleased to say the show was a last minute gig. He was already doing a performance earlier that afternoon and got the message from Sofar Sounds to come play there as well. He and bassist Kai Carter had got to house just in time to perform.
The Gallerists (photo credit, Holli Stephens)
The folk singer dabbled on guitar and banjo and played a repertoire of new and old material that included “Helium” and “Blame You”. Collins had formed the band in Boston and often tours there as well as New York and Philadelphia. He says his favorite part about doing the Sofar Sounds series is the “attentive crowds, and it’s really cool to be in small place. The audience is very quiet and you get an energy that is different than playing a show at a bar. You meet new people that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.”
Closing the series was Little Comets, who had come from Newcastle, England to tour the States last Monday. The indie rock trio comprised of brothers Michael and Robert Coles and Matthew Hall graced the audience with almost orchestrated and precise guitar riffs and technical solos.
Little Comets (photo credit, Holli Stephens)
They would introduce each song as either being happy or sad and also played a variety of their material that included “Jennifer”, “Adultery”, and “Worry”.
I caught up to a still very jetlagged lead singer, Robert Coles, after the show and he spoke highly of the band’s tour travels to New York and casinos in Connecticut. For Coles, Sofar Sounds brings him back to the days of when the band first formed. “We used to play house shows a lot. You couldn’t fool people, there was no gimmicks and nothing to hide behind. When someone is a ruler length away from your face, you have to make the music connect in that moment. We learned a lot from playing in houses. When a rooms quiet it’s gotta be about the song.”
