Another Michael

Something very special happens in the moment when a listener truly connects to a song. It’s an intangible reaction that bridges science and emotion, turning firing synapses into something cosmically beautiful. Another Michael exists for that moment: when a song transforms the setting of a long walk home, or speaks to a past experience while simultaneously making a new one, or taps into something universal by relating details so specific and personal that they could only be revealed in music. In 2023 the band released Wishes To Fulfill, the first in a pair of albums dedicated to their love of song, and now they’re back already with the experimental next chapter, Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down. Together, the dual LPs create and pay tribute to the power of transcendent musical moments.

Wishes To Fulfill and Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down are contrasting but complimentary albums: musical siblings that are undeniably different entities but still share key sonic DNA. They each offer a plethora of dynamics, feelings, and moods to soundtrack the richness of life, and form Another Michael’s finest work to date. Where Wishes To Fulfill was a lean 29-minute set of single-worthy tracks, Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down is more expansive, patiently unfolding to reveal an exploratory side that brings new hues into the band’s vibrant sound.

On Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down, Another Michael’s core sound–ultra-catchy melodies delivered through inventive chord progressions, lush arrangements, and vocalist/guitarist Michael Doherty’s distinctive voice–is still present, but the record features new ingredients that push the music into unexpected directions. The songs often take the knack for hooks that defined Wishes To Fulfill and apply it to left turns like the hypnotic quasi-krautrock of “I’ve Come Around To That,” the sparse balladry of the title track, or the pulsating synth explorations of “The Diner’s Spoon.” The album’s world is weirder and more improvisational, like in the twisting ends of “Hub of Dreams” or the spontaneous performances of “Like I Won A Car”–but Doherty’s warm singing and conversational lyricism always keep things grounded.

Another Michael’s adoration for music allows for simple sonic satisfaction, but it also taps into something deeper, something connective. “Music is a medium of communication,” says bassist Nick Sebastiano, “It’s not a purposeful decision to talk about music in our songs but it just inherently means so much to us. If something makes your heart sing, the audience is going to hear it.” On Wishes To Fulfill and Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down, the band didn’t set out to capture the all encompassing, existential value of music, but they did contribute to it–offering more songs to the world, and with them,

A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing is Tenci’s second album, following their 2020 debut My Heart Is An Open Field, which introduced Jess Shoman’s musical explorations to the world. 

Shoman admits that their first album dealt with letting go of painful life experiences, resulting in emptiness. In this more recent collection Tenci carries an opposite feeling, a celebration of self-rejuvenation. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing shows Shoman steering their inventive music further and wilder, spilling over 12 fable-like songs. In a combination of milk, coins, glass, water, and light, each song forms a spell to “fill my heart back up,” Shoman says, “by reframing complex feelings by turning my head sideways and seeing them in a different way.”  

On the album Shoman is joined by collaborators from the close-knit Chicago scene: Curtis Oren on saxophone and guitar, Izzy Reidy on bass (Izzy True), and Joseph Farago on drums (Joey Nebulous). The years following My Heart is an Open Field saw the band playing shows together all over the country, alongside acts Friendship, Hop Along, Squirrel Flower, and Wednesday.

Hello Shark is the Maine-based project of Linc Halloran. They have been playing in clubs, bars, homes, and basements across the United States since the band's humble beginnings in Vermont in late 2006. HS has had a rotation of members over the years but the current lineup consists of founding member, singer-songwriter Linc Halloran, longtime drummer Alex Decato, and bass player Garrett Linck. Their musicianship is cohesive yet a minimal sound that pairs well with Halloran's powerful and earnest vocal melodies.

[$15 Tickets | Doors 7PM | Show 730pm]

Host or Publisher Oxbow Brewing Company