Gossip Wolf has yet to hear a note from Honestly Same, but the temptation is strong to refer to the five-piece improvising collective as a supergroup—kind of like Temple of the Dog for the local new-music scene! The quintet is packed with big-time talent: percussionist Samuel Scranton (half of the duo Beautifulish), synthesizer player Zach Moore (part of Mocrep and cofounder of Parlour Tapes), pianist Mabel Kwan (a member of Ensemble dal Niente), clarinetist Zachary Good (part of ZRL, Mocrep, and Eighth Blackbird), and cellist Lia Kohl (also from ZRL and Mocrep). In 2020, Good and Kohl released the Parlour Tapes duet Standing Lenticular, one of the year’s most intense drone albums. Honestly Same call their music “patient and contemplative,” and on Thursday, January 20, they debut live at Constellation on a bill with Forest Management. The venue will also livestream the show via its YouTube page.
On his October 2021 release, Easy Has Never Been the Way, Chicago singer-songwriter Peter Joly sets his plaintive vocals and alluring melodies to folky, front-porch instrumentation that should appeal to fans of such legendary storytellers as John Prine and Loudon Wainwright III. On Saturday, January 22, Joly and his group will play a free show on the FitzGerald’s Sidebar stage at 9 PM.
On Sunday, Chicago indie-rock duo Orisun—multi-instrumentalist Kai Black and front person Asha Adisa—dropped a two-track EP called All Gender Bathroom, whose lo-fi charm gets an extra bump from Adisa’s cool-and-collected singing. “SIM” combines frothy keys, echoing vocals, and guitars that toggle between fuzzy and piercing; “Fortitude” draws its power from a rhythmic guitar pattern thrumming with feedback. Gossip Wolf suspects Orisun will play the songs from All Gender Bathroom when they headline the Hideout on Tuesday, February 15; tickets cost $12 and the show starts at 9:30 PM.
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