House shows usually bring to mind a few things – punk rock, sweaty teenagers, the reckless abandon of youth – but as we walked into a cozy two-story on Gilbert Ave. on a perfect summer evening, local music fans were treated to the polar opposite. We arrived a little too late to catch Moro – but were greeted at the door by the gentle fingerpicking and lilting pedal steel of Kalispell, a minimalist alt-country project of Eau Claire resident Shane Leonard. Joining him on-“stage” were Dave Power (Meridene, Adelyn Rose) on drums, and Ben Lester (A.A.Bondy) on pedal steel. Up next was Bro. Stephen, a sleepy singer-songwriter from Bloomington, Indiana, who will be joining Kalispell on their midwestern tour. The soft vocals and sparse, delicate arrangements of each band kept the crowd in silence, occasionally punctuated by the clicking of a camera’s shutter. A far cry from the stereotypical house show, and a welcome change of pace.
-Mitch Gustafson, August 30, 2011
Photographs by Zachary Oliphant
