BandWagon Magazine - November 2022 - Langhorne Slim

Jellyfish farm Jellyfish

As subgenres go, progressive rock is certainly its own multi-tentacled beast. Its key characteristics align with virtuosic musicianship and a sort of refined taste, which, as with caviar or any stereotype, can lend itself to negative connotations.

But the debut release from Colorado’s Jellyfish Farm could not be further from any preconceived notion of “stuffy” progressive rock. Rather, it’s a delightful and abstract breath of

fresh air for not only the state’s local music scene, but modern prog as a whole.

The quartet made a roaring statement by releasing their debut EP Jellyfish in September. Just as the name of the band paints a whimsically odd picture, the record takes the listener through a landscape of sounds you might hear in an underwater world populated by bouncy, bugeyed sea creatures who, while humorous, make you slightly uncomfortable. Put otherwise, picture yourself licking a toad, then spending the afternoon at a coffee shop.

Guitarists Doug Hitchens and Alan Loma make evident within the first few seconds of arpeggiated finger tapping on the EP, that they're nothing short of virtuosos. Hugo Mondragon delivers the winding backbone of the band by way of precise double-kick drum, tom fills and time signatures which change faster than the tide, making it immediately apparent that the man behind the skins is a master as well.

The EP is jazzy yet spacy, chill yet disjointed, hypnotic yet shreddy. It’s equally as fun as it is intriguing; as much a fusion masterpiece as it is the potential

soundtrack to an anime cartoon or 8-bit video game.

Jellyfish Farm bring their proggy offerings to the stage just as sharply as on record. They hit Chipper’s Lanes in Greeley this month, and rumor has it they'll also joinin one of Colorado’s heaviest, oceanic-named bands for a special New Year’s Eve show. In the meantime, dive into the genius that is Jellyfish and stay tuned.

Catch Jellyfish Farm at 2454 West in Greeley with Author of Your Downfall, Khamyel, and The Leshen on Saturday, November 19. instagram.com/ jellyfishfarmband

Nate Wilde BandWagon Magazine

Logan Farmer A Mold For The Bell

with a determined grit.

You don’t need an orchestra to express greatness. Intimacy and reality can speak louder than the thickest arrangement. But tapping into all the available sonic channels can provide a rich truth. The sound of far-off howling underneath the breathy cry of a “Flamenco Sketches” saxophone at the outset of Logan Farmer’s A Mold For The Bell does just that. It starts like a good film. It paints a picture, sets a scene, and places the listener in a new, beautiful world.

Following in the "soft-croon" tradition of fellow Colorado folkers Covenhoven and Gregory Alan Isakov, Fort Collins’ Farmer paints with a palette of little more than acoustic guitar and vocal. But a flutter of woodwind textures, flecks of orchestral harp and thoughtful string arrangements elevate the album’s eight songs to a 10.

Fans of Bon Iver will love AMold For The Bell, but should expect a few unique brush strokes in this impressionist piece, namely, the pointed, trembling timbre of Farmer’s vocal: It’s hushed and rife with vibrato yet convinced

The record stands on the strength of understatements, but Farmer doesn’t let it slide without a few shock-tactics. “Crooked Lines” strikes through the tranquil collection with what sounds like Sonic Youth destroying a guitar amp, crushed through an 8-bit sampler. But this disruptive stab is quickly balanced by all the record's orchestral pieces coming together in the wonderfully enveloping “William.” Silken lines of Joseph Shabason's saxophone hypnotize as Farmer laments on balladry’s oldest subject: pining. “The Moment” is another highlight, filling lush spaces a la The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs soundtrack or an Iron & Wine EP.

Perfect for an intent listen by a November fireside, A Mold For The Bell marks Farmer’s second release with Austinbased label Western Vinyl. Many of the album's touchstones can be credited to saxophonist Shabason and producer Andrew Berlin, who, known for his work at the Fort Collins punk institution The Blasting Room, shines as a dynamic, minimalist producer willing to take risks on an art-folk record.

“…You will paint a landscape on the door, I will fake an illness for your warmth,” Farmer sings. “Suddenly remember what the firewood was for: casting jagged shadows on your wrist – I always wanted this.” It’s easy to guess that Colorado’s most discerning listeners have always wanted the imagery and dynamic beauty of A Mold For The Bell too.

A Mold For The Bell is out now. Buy it from the artist at loganfarmer.com or listen wherever you stream music.

Kevin Johnston BandWagon Magazine

Langhorne Slim A SEMBLANCE OF STILLNESS

BY DAN ENGLAND

Fans of Langhorne Slim may already know this, but do not worry if you plan to see him November 11 at the Aggie in Fort Collins, the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs a day later or at any stop on his current, nationwide tour: he isn’t the brooding artist you may hear on StrawberryMansion.

The album came out last year, after he first re leased Side-A of the sprawling 22-track collection in 2020. Strawberry Mansion was the result of a burst of creativity that

emerged from the pandemic and after winning a battle with clinical anxiety and prescription drug abuse. He’s still happy to talk about that time and his never-ending struggles, and he remains honored to share his experience with mental health organizations. But sometimes he has to remind people that those are things he’s dealt with his whole life. They do not necessarily define him.

“I’m also having fun too,” Slim said with a laugh in a phone interview with BandWagon. “It’s not beating me every day.”

In fact, in many ways, that time he spent in recov ery was a real breakthrough, a time when he began to heal for perhaps the first time in his life. It makes him thankful for the pandemic, in a weird way, because it forced him to take a hard look at his troubles.

“For the first time ever, I was find ing some semblance of stillness,” Slim said. “I wasn’t running from myself because I wasn’t able to.”

At the suggestion of a friend, he began writing one new song each day. Slim wasn’t hot on the song-aday idea at first, but he was trapped in his house due to the pandemic and was out of rehab (though still recovering) so what else was he supposed to do? He tried the exer cise and was pleasantly surprised at how the songs kept “showing up.” He suspects this approach helped quiet his raging anxiety, along with assisting his recovery in general.

“They weren’t written to make a record,” Slim said of these songs. “There was no pressure. They were just songs to sing in my living room.”

Even so, a lot of tunes from that batch did make it on the album, and as a result, it’s his most per sonal record to date.

“It captured this period of time in my life,” he said, “and it seemed like putting them out as one expression was the way to go. I feel like I’ve always written pretty damn personally, but nothing to this extent.”

The record is quiet and folky, re corded in just a few stripped-down sessions; a production choice that reflected the time and the pan demic as well as the songs them selves.

“That’s just a result of how they were coming to me,” he said of the tunes, “and the whispers I was hearing in my soul urging me to keep it simple.”

Some records should be compli cated, he said, and he believes his next album could very well wind up that way. Regarding his creative process leading up to the next release, the songs don't always “show up” as often as they did for what would become Strawberry Mansion. And though they'll sure ly appear, they may not come that fast again.

“I get anxious and fearful anytime the songs aren’t pouring out,” he said, “but it takes a trust of the natural flow of the thing.”

Right now, after all, he’s focused on touring. He’ll hit stages from Vancouver to Key West and Pennsylvania to Texas before the year is through, which is a surprisingly welcome return-to-form for Slim.

Touring was, for many months during the shutdown and the chaotic time that followed, some-

thing he simply didn’t want to do, even though, of course, he often couldn’t. But now he’s enjoying it. He realizes how much he missed it. It makes him happy to be on the road and he’s having a lot of fun.

“I’ve been able to play my ass off, and that’s been amazing,” he said. “I really didn’t miss it for a long time. But now that I’m back out, it feels like I’m home again.”

BandWagon Presents Langhorne Slim on Wednesday, November 9 at Mesa Theater in Grand Junction and Saturday, November 12 at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. Tickets at BandWagMag.com (full Langhorne Slim tour dates at langhorneslimmusic.com).

BANDWAGON PHOTO OF THE MONTH | PHOTO: SHELBY TAYLOR-THORN ANIMAL COLLECTIVE | THE LINCOLN - CHEYENNE, WY

always strikes theright notes.

Music lovers will find plenty of chances to tap their toes in Greeley, from Friday Fests to the Union Colony Civic Center lineup. From Mariachi bands to bluegrass, Greeley has a mix of vibrant sounds. Classical lovers can look forward to a new season from the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra. And local venues like the Moxi Theater have a full calendar of acts to get out and see. No matter your musical sensibilities, Greeley has every reason for you to keep tuning in throughout the summer and beyond.

EVERYONE SHOULD START A BAND.

You’ll begin by gathering some friends to meet in a dingy classroom and start practice on a drum set with busted heads and an amp with crunchy outputs.

You’ll be bad at first. Or maybe not terri ble, but awkward and too loud. But it will be fun to make noise and write songs that aren’t so serious, and maybe a few that are. You’ll laugh harder than you have in years. You’ll leave practice looking for ward to the next one.

hope you can hold onto this moment for ever, with these people. Then you’ll real ize moments don't last, but maybe these people can carry you through whatever is next.

You’ll play a show - maybe for a couple people, maybe for a couple hundred if you’re really lucky. You'll get a chance to do it again, and you'll take it. You'll keep taking chances.

You’ll grow a lot - musically, profession ally, personally. You’ll see bandmates’ lives race by in a whirlwind between gigs and hours logged in a van. You’ll watch people graduate, get married, start jobs, quit jobs, have kids, raise families. You’ll grow up together.

All at once, you will feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of time and mournful for how quickly it passes. You’ll

You will love your band more than you ever thought possible. Your heart, shriv eled and cold from years of people tell ing you this business is hard, will thaw and grow three sizes. Through the years you’ll walk each other through doubt, death, pain, and change. You’ll learn most of it is guaranteed to be hard, but you’ll do the hardest things together.

Most of all, you’ll look around and won der how you got so lucky. You’ll kiss the ground of the stages you play and hug the necks of your bandmates and wonder what cosmic trick you pulled to deserve all of this.

Everyone should start a band.

– Briana Harris

Briana Harris is a musician and artist man ager living in Greeley, CO. She is the saxo phonist and manager for The Burroughs.