June McDoom at Baby’s All Right (photo by Kevin McGann)
Last week, NYC based June McDoom treated those of us at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right to her unique brand of singer-songwriter folk musings three different ways: as a solo artist, backed by a band, and then backed by a string ensemble. It was a beautiful night of music to celebrate the equally beautiful clear with green high-melt colored vinyl release of her stunning 2022 self-titled EP.
While “folk” and “singer-songwriter” are terms often used to describe McDoom’s music, they also feel too limited in their description. There are so many elements to her music that reveal themselves through repeated listening. From the dreamy indie pop of “Babe, You Light Me Up,” the spacey atmospheric sounds of “Piano Song,” and the haunting beauty of “By June,” there’s a deceptive complexity to her songs. Hearing them fleshed out by both band and strings really highlighted just how good a writer McDoom is. And her performance last Tuesday was just as gentle and nuanced as you find on her EP.
Opening the night was Miami’s Seafoam Walls. Well rather, half of Seafoam Walls. It was a stripped-down version of the band featuring its founder, Jayan Bertrand, and guitarist Dion Kerr playing an intimate set of Wall’s signature Caribbean Jazzgaze sound. While the layered sounds and beats from their 2021 debut, XVI (Daydream Library Series) create this beautiful landscape, it was nice to hear and appreciate these songs in a totally different way.
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Kevin McGann)
SEAFOAM WALLS
JUNE MCDOOM
