Anna Tivel with Alex Hardesty

Doors: 6 PM

Show: 7 PM

All Ages Welcome

No Refunds or Exchanges

Presented by 105.5 The Colorado Sound

About Anna Tivel:

Before you come into the world you should know // there are things that will hurt and things that won’t // like scraping your knees on the asphalt // and the freedom right before you fell// nobody tells it like it is // they say ‘isn’t it lovely,’ and ‘buck up kid,’ // but you learn how to breathe just by doing it // how to dream until you believe yourself

Living Thing, the newest full length album from Oregon based songwriter Anna Tivel, is an arcing dive into the existential. Written through the tumultuous eyes of 2020 and recorded in Eau Claire, WI in profound collaboration with long time friend and producer Shane Leonard, these are songs of struggle and aliveness expressed with great joy.

“I wrote feverishly in the strange chaos of that year, suddenly out of work and attempting to understand the shifting human fabric, the depth of desperation and the overwhelming tenacity of spirit. The resulting songs felt rhythmic and vital, with more melody and soaring chorus than I’ve explored in the past. There was no way and no means to gather a full band, and I brought the songs to Shane’s doorstep knowing and fully trusting the skill and exuberance of his creative imagination. Shane stripped everything down to the studs and we rebuilt it together, just the two of us for a month in his garage studio, Shane dreaming up each sonic layer while I chased the lyrics to one last double chorus.”

The album takes off with the song ‘Silver Flame,’ a sweeping embrace of uncertainty. ‘Satellites and angel voices // yesterday tried to destroy us // morning came up golden anyhow // maybe there’s a great creator // a far off planet trying to save us // but we’ve just got each other for now.’

Tivel is a writer drawn to seminal questions, and this album is no exception. She illuminates the seeking rather than clinging to conviction. What is it that makes us human? What are we for? How do we move as we reach toward each other, change our minds, learn to love? The nine songs that make up ‘Living Thing’ look deep into the core and do so with groove and energy. Shane brought a dynamic vigor to the table, drawing the tender lyrical thoughts into a more potent sound world. He acted as producer, engineer, band, and trusted creative comrade, even mixing the album on his analog board, playing the faders like an instrument in an inspired momentary performance of each song.

“Shane gave his whole beautiful heart and mind to this record and I’ve never had such a freeing and powerful collaborative experience. I learned so much from watching him explore in the studio. We followed the rules of improv, said yes and tried every idea that percolated – sampled an 8 track symphony backward, looped wine glasses and lighters, read poetry into lofi microphones, and recorded a thunderstorm into a tape machine. Shane went on eternal drum tone quests, chased intricate melodic bass lines, and gently encouraged me to let go and sing from a deeper place. I love this record because it feels like a joyous musical conversation with a close friend about the big vast mystery of being alive.”

Nobody tells it like it is // they say don’t blow around on a different wind // but you’re gone and you’re not even listening // they were wrong and the wind is a living thing // and you’re taking a picture you won’t forget // something real and the way you remember it // you’ll be everything, you’ll be riotous // what a feeling to be alive

About Alex Hardesty:

Alex was born a baby in Boise, ID (which is not Iowa nor Ohio) where he found a love for music at the ripe age of 7 by joining his school orchestra. Cradled by the mountains, yet challenged by tumultuous political landscapes during his youth, Alex never lacked inspiration to seek refuge in his music. After picking up many different instruments and many different degrees including double bass performance and architecture, Alex began finding euphoria in singing and songwriting which correlated with his coming out at trans and finding comfort in his own voice.

His songwriting process focuses on the poetry of daily life and deeper questions, and you will often find him gazing directionally for many minutes in pursuit of the perfect word. Alex truly is a joyful and playful human, but his music borrows dark and melancholic threads from what he calls “the constant and often burdening pursuit of understanding how to be human.” Fingerpicking, husky yet honeyed vocals, and prolific storytelling are a few of Alex’s many talents as an up and coming singer songwriter.

His debut album, “Accomplice,” recorded and produced by Mark Anderson in Evergreen, CO and released April 2024, is a culmination of self discovery coupled with relentless determination to share his authenticity and experiences with the world. In ten songs the listener is brought through comforting melodies and tangible yet deeply layered lyricism that question what it means to be a man in the world, what we are given at birth, and the relief that riding a bicycle can bring to the incessant mulling over these questions.

When Alex isn’t writing, recording, or performing, he spends most of his days teaching middle school in Boulder, CO.

Host or Publisher eTown