Sixth Annual Quiet Music Festival, A Photo Journal

Saturday , June 25th

Like A Villain with Christoper Johnedis

The operatic voice of Holland Andrews (Like A Villain) opened the night like a laser beam. The first note shot through the open space (we’re all low to the ground, no bodies clogging the room), bouncing off the back wall; I felt like I could distinctly hear the end of the note hit the wall then drop to the floor. Her voice envelopes, if you could see it, it would start to look like smoke spreading from wall to wall. Screeches and screams come from her too; she can sound like a machine or a chainsaw. Yet, she controls this and she easily shifts into her choral posture. It’s an intensely emotional performance. Christopher Johnedis on drums releases the grip her voice has, as if opening a window in the smoky room, unclenching for us with an arrangement of scrapes, shuffling beats, and chimes. But in the moments where her voice is alone, I basked in its tight grip.

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Sunfoot

This is a fun set. It’s like a rehearsal or jamming away at home, as Brian Mumford, QMF founder Chris Johanson and Ron Burns laugh and discuss song picks on-stage. Technical difficulties become opportunities for jokes you wish they’d keep having the opportunity to tell. All three guys sing and shift between various instruments. Mumford especially looks like he’s testing each instruments’ sound, making it up as he goes. The experimental noise guys look like they have the best time, and some covert sense of humor that the audience spends the set trying to be let in on. Fun, positive sounds.

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 Valet

Valet is the sound I think of when I think of the QMF. With blankets spread on the floor, your shoes off, the trio is hypnotic and surreal, and it’s all the ambience you need for zoning out. Or focusing clearly on one thought. I was picturing a wide open expanse of land, the sounds roll uninterrupted like an even wind traveling on the treeless landscape, gently dipping and lifting with the hills. 

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Virginia Dare

I sat up to listen to Virginia Dare — Mary O’Neil, Brad Johnson, Greg Freeman and Michelle Cernuto. They are blue grass and folky, with storytelling lyrics. O’Neil, auto-harp in hand and a flower in her hair, is the sight and sound of a quiet summer night, staying up late because it’s still warm and there are stories to tell and people around.

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Fred and Tooty

Portland legends Fred and Tooty Cole ended the night playing renditions of their famed rock band, Dead Moon, along with new songs. The two are in their late sixties, hair falling in their faces, like I imagine it’s always done and the subdued set mounted into the most energetic and rocking of the night. Sitting beside me, Sean told me that his first exposure to Dead Moon was a cover of their 1994 hit “It’s O.K.” performed by Pearl Jam over fifteen years ago. They didn’t play the song, but that title offered the feeling I got from their whole set, some blend of reassurance, good cheer and buoyancy in the face of harsh reality — that everything is okay. A great end to the night.

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Composed by Kathleen Dolan and Stephanie Leet, formatted and edited by Sean Ongley.