Hillary Susz, Lorain to rock Rolling Bay
Published 8:30 am Monday, August 7, 2017
Hillary Susz and Lorain will come to the Space Craft stage at Rolling Bay Hall at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12 for a special doubleheader concert event.
Susz is an independent songwriter and guitarist based in Boulder, Colorado. Her distinctive, operatic vocals and angular, effects-laden guitar work feature prominently in her songs, which often eschew conventional structure along the complex twists and turns of their narrative course.
A formal student of both poetry and creative writing, Susz’s lyrics are the defining element of her music, painting striking and memorable imagery within songs that balance blunt commentary on lived experience with an honest, funny and occasionally sardonic take on both lesbian love and ordinary life.
She is touring the Northwest summer of 2017 with a four-piece rock band, which also includes Julianne Thoma, Elkay Stabo and Brendan Silk.
Lorain (formerly Grand Lake Islands) is a recording, performing and “head-clearing project” of songwriter Erik Emanuelson and instrumentalists Bob Reynolds, Joseph Anderson and Robin Bacior.
They play “woozy American music.” Emanuelson’s expressive tenor, recalling ghosts of “Nashville Skyline”-era Dylan and the late Jason Molina, floats over lush textures and the band’s understated groove.
Having played and toured for years in New York City, Portland, and throughout the West Coast under the name Grand Lake Islands, Emanuelson, along with current collaborators Reynolds and Anderson, decided to step away and reassess. The band had cultivated a creative chemistry and sound that had drifted significantly from Grand Lake Islands’ ramshackle-folk beginnings. With the addition of Portland musician Robin Bacior, the change was imminent.
Lorain was conceived around a batch of new songs and the desire to build a project, collectively, from the ground up. These new songs emphasize restraint, relying more on subtlety, texture and structure than crescendo to hit their mark. Despite this, Emanuelson’s ability to emote has remains intact, if not refined.
Tickets, $12 in advance, $15 at the door, are on sale. Visit www.spacecraftpresents.org to purchase.
