Three microphone stands, along with three different kinds of guitars — two electric and one acoustic — a bass, and a set of drums were staged on the CFAC Recital Hall on the night of Oct. 11. They welcomed the three folk-pop artists Molly Parden, Eliza Edens, and Louisa Stancioff, as well as Dave Kelly, who played the drums.
These three folk-pop artists who have been making music for years, and got to play together for the first time last February because of some mutual booking agents. They are now going on tour together and finished their seventh show out of 15 at Calvin. Although they are now halfway done with the tour, they still leave their audiences excited and wanting more.
As soon as the three artists came in, Stancioff opened the night by singing her song Gold, which Parden followed with a more acoustic and nostalgic tune. A more upbeat song called Cigarette was then delivered by Stancioff.
Even when they were not leading a song, Parden, Edens and Stancioff were not quiet. Their fingers still played the instruments, intertwining notes with one another. Every note, whether improvised or not, fit perfectly into every song they played. It is obvious that the three are not just singers, but that they are artists who passionately create beautiful fillers, riffs and notes from the instruments to make the songs that they are playing for the audience even better.
I Needed You, Edens’ latest single, was next, played with more jazz-like drum beats. Parden’s song Cigarette — which happened to have the same title as Stancioff’s — followed, still full of all the instruments and harmonies that they spontaneously created.
Before singing her song Red Neck Yaught Club, Stancioff told a story about her hometown in Farmington, Maine, and how growing up around bodies of water was so dear to her. The name of this particular song, she told the audience, came from a random sign she saw near one of the lakes near her hometown. Kelly, who happened to also grow up in Maine, delivered some very soft beats that evoked deeply nostalgic feelings.
Edens then took over the stage with her song Leash, filled with up-tempo, funky beats. At the end of the song, she told the audience that this song is basically just about bugs, which made the entire Recital Hall laugh.
Parden and Edens then shared about their lives in New York, followed by the performance of several songs, including Edens’ song for a loved one who has dementia. Stancioff and Kelly also contributed.
After the series of group performances, they began to perform some solo songs, starting with Louisa’s unrecorded song which talks about someone feeling like turning back in time. Edens performed a solo of her song Ineffable, which she wrote when she first moved to New York. The solo that Parden performed was her song, Feel Alive Again, which she wrote during “the dark night of her soul”.
They then brought back the energy with another trio of the song Tom & Jerry, and Louisa’s newest song Heist. As the end of the concert neared, they also performed a cover of Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne, “a song from our generation,” said Edens. Parden added that Stacy’s Mom was “our generation’s pledge of allegiance.”
The night closed with a song called Everybody Laughs, played without microphones on an unplugged acoustic guitar, which made the environment feel more lively and real. This experience captured the art of music itself, because we often forget that the art of music is not about the fancy arrangements, but rather the simplicity of it.
While Director of Student Activities Jack Droppers asked questions during the closing Q&A session, the trio noted that making art is not about how fancy you want it to look. “It’s not the art that I’m interacting with,” said Parden, “but the people in everyday life.”
Edens added that art is like following “a seeded inspiration and seeing where it takes you.”
