Moonwake w/Aquakultre, Loveland
Thursday, March 1, 9pm
The Carleton, 1685 Argyle Street
$10
For musician Braden Nelson, some of the most exciting sounds can emerge when people find themselves outside of their musical comfort zone. That was one of the premises behind his Asymmetry EP, which saw Nelson asking singers from a variety of genres to duet atop his mellow, pop-influenced songs. And it was that project's success that led to Moonwake, a project that marries Nelson's spaced-out pop songs with the energy of a full band.
"After Asymmetry, I just brought a bunch of friends together to play and kind of went from there," says Nelson. "I thought we should keep moving, but maybe change gears, change our name, bring in some new songs."
Moonwake—which now includes Nelson on keyboards, vocalists Sean Clancey and Shileen Gillis, Adam Ritchie on guitar, James Shaw on saxophone and Teddy Skiffington on drums—put out its debut EP Be Still at the end of August, following it up with the equally atmospheric Placement EP earlier this month. The band will celebrate its release with a show at The Carleton on Thursday. In addition to sets from Loveland and Aquakultre, the show will also see the debut of the band's collaborative beer with North Brewing Company.
True to its origins, Nelson says that the band won't be rehearsing too much before its set. Instead, he hopes that the show's energy will allow the band to discover new corners of its sound. "We're all good friends so it goes pretty easily. That's the cool thing about the live shows too," he says. "I might write all of the recordings and play on those, but in a live setting everyone [in the band] is welcome to do whatever they want, to bring their own flair to the table. Everyone's own personality comes through, which keeps it really fun for all of us."
