Girl at the Rock Shows

If I’m being honest, I almost bailed on the show on Friday night. I’ve been on a grind, and I feel like that grind kind of came to a head after work on Friday. I was exhausted and, looking around my messy house, completely overwhelmed by life in general. Instead of doing something about it, I opted for a nice long nap after work, and I woke up feeling worse. Now I was groggy, crabby, and still surrounded by a mess of a house. I thought about just staying home and finally doing something about it, but my heart said no, I had to go to The Icehouse in Minneapolis. I thought about putting up a fight, but I know better than that. If my gut was saying this was a show I shouldn’t miss, this was a show I shouldn’t miss, so I packed up my gear and headed to The Icehouse.

Kicking the night off was fruitform and I instantly understood why I was supposed to be at this show. fruitform thrilled me in a way that local bands don’t typically do. Instead of sticking with just one genre or one style, this band was all over the place. There was one song in particular where the band seamlessly switched from a jazz-styled song with an insane amount of scat quickly to a vibe that had more of a hip-hop flow and an insane amount of words strung together in a rhythmic pattern that seemed to juxtapose the instrumentation happening. After that, the band broke down into this experimental-noise styled interlude before falling into a more standard indie pop kind of song. Even saying “standard” right there feels wrong. Nothing about fruitform was standard and that’s what made them so perfect and a band that I instantly fell head over heels for.

It wasn’t all just quirky and fun with fruitform. At one point, the band played a stunning song about a neighbor of the vocalist who had disappeared during the metro surge. Although I wasn’t in the mood to get super emotional on Friday night and was definitely leaning heavily into the party-like atmosphere that this band had curated, it was impossible not to get lost in the beauty of this song. It was touching, raw, and something that everyone who lived through the occupation here in the Twin Cities could relate to. That whole era of Minneapolis is hard to put into words but fruitform did it so eloquently while also bringing notice to the fact that is was far from done. It was a touching moment that acted as the perfect highlight to an already dazzling set.

Following fruitform was a set from Seven Pines. This trio instantly brought an earthy and gorgeous kind of warmth to the packed room. There was something about them that slightly reminded me of a more lo-fi styled Fleetwood Mac. The problem is, I don’t think it was their sound that gave me that feeling; I think it was more just their overall aura. Something about watching these three musicians perform together just felt so organic, intimate, and free. You could tell that all three of these musicians were talented and each could easily steal the spotlight from the others, but instead of doing that, each member clearly respected the other musicians on stage during every second of their set on Friday night.

Seven Pines’ sound felt mystical and mysterious at times, but also had this soft kind of power behind it that easily commanded my ears. Unfortunately, that was not the case for everyone. The sound of Seven Pines was definitely a bit more low-key than that of fruitforfm, and I feel like this audience, like myself, was ready to celebrate a bit more than be attentive. Roaring conversations made it hard to hear this trio from time to time throughout their set, but that didn’t stop them. Seven Pines marched on with their set with stunning originals and a truly lovely cover of a Neil Young song.

Clearly, I loved both openers of this show, but Friday night at The Icehouse wasn’t about them; it was about Molly Brandt. This show was an album release show for Molly’s record titled ‘Museum of Being.’ Prior to Molly taking the stage, I had asked a friend who was at this show what to expect. He told me that it was country, but like a cool kind of country that mixes a classic vibe with a modern sound. I took a deep breath. Not exactly my cup of tea based on his words, but another moment when my gut came into play, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be like he said, and I was right.

Sure, Molly has a bit of a twang to her sound and definitely has tracks that lean into a more classic country kind of vibe, but overall, I felt her set was more situated in the indie pop world. On top of that was the way that Molly uses her songs and platform to tell stories. The stories ran the gamut as far as subject matter and emotion, but one thing remained constant- the talent. From Molly’s stunning voice to the clear talent of the massive band behind her, every song told a story and conveyed an emotion that took you away from the world. Molly and the band played through every song on the new album, and each track took me to a different place. From a storied library with giant shelves and musty-smelling books to in front of a cozy fireplace in a classic north woods-style cabin, I loved being able to travel to so many places through the twelve songs of the album.

As mentioned, the band behind Molly was massive and featured a bunch of familiar faces from the music scene. I knew that the familiar faces had an insane amount of talent behind them, and it wasn’t hard to hear or see that the other members of this band that I wasn’t familiar with also had a lot to offer. The band members offered it all but never once outshone Molly. Maybe this was a respect thing, and they kind of kept it cool, but, really, I think it was more than that. Molly truly dazzles with every stage she graces. She doesn’t try to steal the spotlight and doesn’t come off as overly cocky or anything like that; it’s just her. From her charming smile to the way you get to watch her relive the moments that she was in when writing the songs, with the way she closes her eyes and seems to go somewhere far, far away, everything about Molly was captivating, to say the least.

I could have stayed home on Friday night. I could have finally cleaned the house that I’ve neglected during this current concert binge and finally gotten on top of some stuff, but what’s the fun in that? Friday night was not a night to stay in; it was a night to celebrate the amazing local scene and a truly shining star in it.

Line-Up:

fruitform

Seven Pines

Molly Brandt

Venue: The Icehouse

Smell-O-Meter: The amazing food of The Icehouse

Average Age of the Crowd: 39

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 0 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- $0

Broken Bones- None

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

friutform- 0

Seven Pines – 0

Molly Brandt – 0

Show on Deck – TBD

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