Joyful Noise on the Green: Small Sur (Baltimore, MD) and Brianna Kelly

2366 Kemper Lane,Cincinnati OH 45206

19 June, 2021

Description

Join us for the second Joyful Noise on the Green at Church of the Advent! All ages, free Community Dinner at 6pm Music at 7PM SMALL SUR (8pm) Since 2005, Bob Keal has been quietly releasing music under the name Small Sur along with a rotating cast of musicians. Keal has always been elusive--touring only occasionally, self-releasing all but one of his full-length records, and rarely throwing elbows in the attention economy. Despite this relative obscurity, Keal’s unique and understated songwriting has been hailed as “recuperative” (PopMatters), “stoic, dark, and exuberant” (Tiny Mix Tapes), and “serene minimalism [which] conjures large expanses of natural landscapes at their most beautiful” (NPR). Keal, a schoolteacher in Baltimore, leads a mostly rhythmic, domestic life--raising his daughter with his partner, Monique, and spending his free time outdoors, foraging for mushrooms and hiking. His songwriting tends to speak the language of the natural world, and it is this relationship to nature which now informs the work on his first new record in nearly eight years. Hunkered down in 2020 and working remotely, Keal and Matthew O’Connell (Elephant Micah/Chorusing) spent the last year trading notes, sending recordings, and gathering additional contributions from Andy Stack (Wye Oak), Cara Beth Satalino (Outer Spaces), Joseph Decosimo (Hiss Golden Messenger), and Erik Hall (In Tall Buildings). The resulting songs are cloud shadows floating across the farmhouse roofs of bucolic daydreams. This is not-Country-music-but-country music--jubilant yet doleful, graceful and unforced, a chorus absconding in the predawn glow. BRIANNA KELLY (7PM) Kentucky-raised, Cincinnati-based Brianna Kelly (she/they) creates hushed, intimate songs and sweeping, reverb-soaked, patient soundscapes, as a form of solace and meaning-making from life’s harsh and joyful absurdity. While writing and playing in numerous award-nominated Cincinnati projects over the past decade such as Soften, A Delicate Motor, Strobobean, and Kim Taylor, Brianna is working toward her debut full-length solo record after releasing two EP’s and a handful of homemade recordings over the years. “Her thick, echoing guitar wraps around her meditative voice like grass spreading across the roots of trees.” - Marc Masters, Bandcamp/Pitchfork “…darkly beautiful, lonely guitar painting patterns like flares across the night sky. Kelly’s vocals, when they arrive, feel indistinct and translucent, swirling around on currents invisible to the human eye.” -Liam Doyle, Various Small Flames “There’s an almost symphonic quality to the song arrangements, largely eschewing cookie-cutter verse/chorus repetition to create a dreamy, stream-of-conscious slipstream of sound, anchored by Kelly’s enthralling vocals and melodies, which are transcendentally soulful.” -Mike Breen, Cincinnati CityBeat