It’s difficult to refrain from hyperbolic statements when you feel passionately about something. You want to support those things – be they friends, colleagues, businesses, ideas, etc – any way that you can. In this case, it’s both a band you truly appreciate and want to see succeed, and a venue that is creating one of the most positive atmosphere’s for both local and traveling musicians and bands. In trying to come up with a “preview” for this show, my intent was to steal a line from The Dark Knight, more specifically, The Joker, and get poetic: “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.” This is simply truth, though, without the antagonism (and just a bit less makeup and insanity). I’ll let you to decide who’s who.
On August 3rd, one of Cincinnati’s most exciting, promising acts will be headlining an all-local show at The Southgate House Revival. The Mitchells, between recording their first full-length album, and fresh from their opening performance at this year’s Bunbury Music Festival, will share the stage with Ben Knight and The Well Diggers and Umin, creating an evening of music rooted in Cincinnati soil, flavored with both straightforward and experimental Indie Rock .
I’ve written of The Mitchells already, but allow me to reiterate: Pay attention. You’ve seen their name attached to some of today’s preeminent touring acts coming through Cincinnati. There’s a reason for that. Folk, with a tendency to make you shake your hips, never dull and always smile-inducing. Indie, without the pretension or posturing. As a group, on stage, The Mitchells are in their natural environment. Each song flows in to the other – some ease you in to their story, others allow you to float gently by. Rivers and streams, with mostly calm water, the occasional rapid intertwining in to a narrative that never feels trite, or like you’ve experienced it before. And since this is one of their first headlining opportunities, their set won’t be cut short in order to accommodate the other acts. This is their showcase, and they want you to know it.
Ben Knight and The Well Diggers will provide direct support, combining Americana with their love and appreciation of Motown – a hint of swagger, never boastful, combined with an earnest understanding and love for music and it’s almost indefinable capacity to tell stories and live as many lives as you can come up with. Starting things off for the evening, Umin is a solo act, combining technological prowess with an almost ironic sense of simplicity. Armed with his baritone ukulele and a variety of loop and effects pedals, each song will very literally be created in front of the audience, melting textures and layers together to craft songs, each as individual as the artist himself.
I encourage you to check out each and every one of the bands mentioned, as they are one of the most significant indications yet that Cincinnati is on the verge of something truly special – an honest revival of a once languishing local music scene. It’s no coincidence, then, that the show itself will be held at The Southgate House Revival.
Tickets are available at Southgate House Revival, online at www.southgatehouse.com, and at Shake It Records, in Northside.
