• Marijana Tarlanovic

Igama Slow Releases Cycles EP
It seems that many artists this year have taken up the "slow release" model for their music. And it makes sense, because what's the rush? With a pandemic that's still keeping most of us inside, especially musicians and performers, a leisurely release pace naturally follows. And while it's normal to release a single or two (or four) for an album or EP, releasing an entire EP or album song by song seems to be the way we're doing things now. SLC artist Igama is also on the slow release train, starting the release for his EP Cycles at the end of 2020 with the aptly titled track "Begin," which dropped Dec. 22. The track, like the rest of the four-piece electronic EP, bobs between gentle, warm synth parts that evoke splattering rain on water, Ghibli-style, before deeper, wilder drum beats ricochet through the landscape. New Agey atmospherics are glued to earth by watery House aesthetics, and on the second track "Expand" (released in 2021 on Jan. 8), dub-ish beats help the song bounce off the walls built by "Begin." Igama's inspiration for the series of songs was the cycle of the seasons, and with these two tracks, the promise of spring and the riot of summer are both implied. It follows that Cycles was mastered by Christopher Willits, a well-known ambient artist who also finds inspiration in nature for his own work and whose fingerprints definitely lend a lusher result to Cycles in comparison with Igama's past singles. This Friday, Jan. 22, Igama releases the third track, titled "Return," where repetitious beats and persistent, whirring synths clatter, building and falling over and over with mini drops that feel like loping down a smooth hill. After journeying through these three songs and their very different personalities, the listener is met with the calm of "Cycle," which releases on Feb. 5. The song invokes pure calm, balancing stimulating beats and star-like, blinking synths with the soft, unintelligible murmurs of a tiny voice sample. To listen to or buy these seasonally-inspired Cycles—or what's been released so far—visit igama.bandcamp.com, or follow on Instagram for more news and listening links @igamasounds.

Musor Plays Urban Lounge With 4th Dimension, Red Bennies
Though Red Bennies are the elder band on this lineup, Musor are the rarest of treats to catch live—and this was true even before the pandemic. That might be because Musor shares frontman Alan Orellana with the psych trio powerhouse Lord Vox, a band which played shows constantly before the pandemic, and has even had a few under their belt during it. Musor, however, feels like it must be a still somewhat young project—though they did put out a single in 2018 with some compellingly crunchy guitar parts on a lengthy, mainly instrumental track. Musor walks the same psychedelic lines as Lord Vox to an extent, but the band has a more measured presence, a slow burn pace that is in no hurry to rush its tension; think a few heavier, lengthier Spacemen 3 songs, and you're headed in the right direction. The band has plans to release new music soon, which means that this upcoming show on Friday, Jan. 22 is the perfect chance to get a sneak peek at it before the release. They'll be playing with the 4th Dimension, another enigmatic band whose music sways from big rock drama ("Persuacion") to sticky, slow sweetness ("Disco") on their own singles from 2018 and 2019. 4th Dimension also shares a band member with Lord Vox in Fernando Garcia, who drums for both bands. The only band on the roster who has anything besides a friendship with the boys of Lord Vox, 4th Dimension and Musor is Red Bennies—though their frontman David Payne did host Musor on his COVID-safe virtual online Doom Lounge stream on Twitch in late 2020. As for the Bennies themselves, their wily rock 'n' roll, avant garde and heavy, will pair nicely with the other bands for the night. If you want a night of pure rock 'n' roll, here are your weekend plans. Tickets are $10 and the show starts at 8 p.m. As always, masks are required, social distancing is required between groups, and tickets must be bought in groups between two and four people. Visit sartainandsaunders.com for more info.

Local Alicia Stockman Launches Kickstarter for Debut
Many local artists have kept busy during the pandemic simply by turning to their dreams and addressing them. That's been the case for local soloist Alicia Stockman, who, after spending a few years in the band Bonanza Town and releasing an EP with them, has since been forging her own path in the folk singer/songwriter world. While the pandemic ended opportunities like shows and touring, Stockman had laid the groundwork in 2019 for the recording of her first full-length album. Besides releasing her own EP Singles throughout 2018 and 2019, Stockman was lucky to make the acquaintance of Nashville-based recording artist and producer Mary Bragg (who's also worked with St. George's Red Dirt Girls) back in 2019 at a songwriting contest in Austin, Texas. The two reconnected months later in early 2020, when they were paired up as mentor and mentee at the Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans. "She attended my showcase at the conference, and she gave me lots of sage advice," Stockman says. But come spring, the pandemic hit, and come May, Stockman realized it wasn't going away anytime soon. So, she decided to get out of her comfort zone and go for an album. "I knew that once I emailed Mary and asked her to help me with songs, that I'd be accountable to someone else, which gave me a reason not to be idle," she continues. "It's also hard to keep the creative well full. To feel inspired is tough—not that there isn't plenty of content to write about these days—but keeping the creative spark fed is hard to do these days." The help from Bragg is also opening doors in the sparkly world of Nashville music and its players, which is a far cry from where Stockman has recorded in the past—like the basement of Positively Fourth Street, dodging the noise from neighboring metal bands. She adds, "This is something that would be impossible for me to do on my own. For me, this feels like the next step in my professional music career." Listen to what Stockman's got wherever you stream, and envision what she will get done when she can get to Nashville—and maybe help her get there by searching for "Alicia Stockman's Debut Studio Album" on Kickstarter and pitching in.

• Alan Roy Carrington

The Vitals Family Band's Hard Working Salt City Man
Though it's easy to equate country with right-wing conservatism and rural intolerance, that reputation couldn't be further from the true roots of country music, which was born from Depression-era poverty, class inequality and just plain old hard times. That's something local family band The Vitals is all too aware of, and the music on their Jan. 1-released EP Salt City Man is fueled by the kind of working class-minded themes that sparked country music's initial popularity decades ago. The multi-generational band—made up of vocalists and cousins Vito and Jay Perry, Vito's father Anthony Perry on drums and their adoptive uncle Tom Krug on bass—are explicitly pro-union, pro-laborer and generally ornery about exploitation. There is one lovely little ballad, a gently rolling, bluesy track called "Sail My Ship," but otherwise the songs on the EP—which range from the rollicking, cheeky folk of "Working on the Weekend" to the outlaw Americana of the title track—are songs about hard work and class ire. "Mean Things" opens up the EP with bouncing basslines and quick-plucked guitars, and the simple statement that "there is mean things happen' in this land" where "the rich man boasts and brags while the poor man goes in rags." The center track "U.N.I.O.N" builds on those injustices with themes of old-fashioned labor struggle ("my will as is as strong / as the steel I make here"), and seeks to remind listeners that "our labor creates all the wealth in this land / so brothers and sisters and friends, lend a hand / in the U-N-I-O-N / and you and I both win"—a sentiment about which this union-busted country could use some reminding. On the title track, The Vitals ruminate on maybe-ancestors who came out West with the "American Dream," settling and raising generations around the landmarks of the Salt Lake Valley. There's something to be said for the family band itself, who cross generations to make music together about family, but also about another cross-generational issue that's been seeing a resurgence in new work sectors the last few years—the goddamn labor movement. Listen to this spirit-lifting, fire-inspiring EP on Spotify, or buy it at thevitals1.bandcamp.com.

• Photos By Jasmine

Drusky Plays Kilby Court with Kathleen Frewin
For the soft 'n' sweet indie kids, Provo's Drusky has got the goods for you. The band released a slew of singles through 2019, the kind of heart-wrenching, introspective emo that's dominated the scene both locally and nationally over the past decade. "Hesitations," from their (Hush Hush Secret Stuff) EP is full of mathy, emo guitars and plucky vocals delivered by Mia Hicken, whose voice stretches out easily into more tumultuous territory on singles like "Break Things," which shows the band's heavier side nicely. "Succulents" is a track that balances both of these impulses perfectly. Fans of Madeline Kenney, Pllush or Remember Sports will dig the melodics and Hicken's memorable vocals, but they'll stay for a band that's surely a riveting one to see live. Pandemic aside, this is the kind of local band that would probably find a lot of success touring, which means catching them at Kilby Court before the pandemic lifts and they take off is a decent idea. And also, maybe, thank God for what the pandemic's done to shows, because if you're paying $15 for a two-act show, you'd better be getting there for the opener. In this case, it's Kathleen Frewin, who is ... something of an enigma. Frewin appears on a 2017 compilation Lindenfield Presents Emily's Frown, which features a who's-who of Provo music scene company, including Quiet House, Sen Wisher, Officer Jenny (now playing as Bly Wallentine) and Lindenfield to name a few. There, Frewin covers the ex-local Emily Brown song "The Worst Weekend Ever," sounding a helluva lot like Phoebe Bridgers, albeit with a bit more grit. The Kathleen Frewin SoundCloud is a mix of more of those emotive acoustic covers mixed with totally wild tracks backed by fuller instrumentation, like "Bone Apple Teeth," where Frewin's voice swings between self-assured softness and yell-singing accompanied by electric riffs. So, it's anybody's guess which version of Frewin you'll get at the show, but rest-assured—both Drusky and Frewin are sure things to spend your night on. Doors to this all-ages show are at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 6:30 p.m. Visit sartainandsaunders.com for ticket info and COVID protocol.