On Thursday night, Bittercreek Alehouse opened up a few tables to make room for stunning music from Run On Sentence and ShipShape. The place was packed with an eager crowd, excited for their locally grown grub and splendid selection of regional beer and wine about to be complimented with delicious sounds. Often at restaurants, frustrated diners work hard to talk over live performances. Last night, the audience was caught and their direction was set tight on both bands. The room rocked with tremendous applause as well as melody.
ShipShape
As she dances barefoot, Kelsey Swope strums acoustic guitar, her thick voice sultry and angelic. Her eyes twinkle back on Jeffrey Barker, who sings airily in soothing lullaby hums pocketed with shrugging smiles. On flute, he sidesteps along with improvised flair, backed by classical training. He then takes the guitar, Travis-picking with precision. ShipShape sounds like misty ballads from sea-faring folk, bidding farewell to loved ones on the shores of Nantucket every fishing season. Their jazz-lounge vocals with footloose-and-fancy-free harmonies and gentle lyrics like “Make me an angel” and “You gotta do what you love babe/you’ll be just fine” makes ShipShape symphonic joy, squared.
Run On Sentence
From Portland, these three gentlemen lead by Dustin Hamman play shuffling folk with beatnik flair. On guitar, upright bass and four-piece drum kit, their waxy vocals fit grooves just slightly disjointed. Run On Sentence is a case of opposites blending perfectly, like bread and chocolate, salt on an apple slice or complimentary colors. A gorgeous trend in music puts together genres that seem to clash. Run On Sentence’s version of this combines Eastern European circus-folk and funny burlesque jazz with rugged blues and rock rhythms. Dustin lets out an occasional yodel, oom-pah-pah and vocalized trumpet effects, too. Their beat is crisp, sharp and playful. Their strong focus reveals irresistible presence. As each player put his whole body and soul 110% into his music, playing for the sake of playing and nothing else, it was hard to take eyes off these three. It is obvious they believe their art matters, that they become their music when they play and take it with them after stepping offstage. These musicians are musicians all the time. When artists live for what they do, it clearly shows.
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