{Soulful Sunday} Fictionist

In a humble accident last year, I encountered a live show at WhySound (now a favored haunt of mine, especially on nights like this upcoming Friday, when Alarmingly Charming is headlining! Wink wink.) for which the band Fictionist headlined. WhySound is a pretty modestly-sized venue, which fact some may frown upon but I happen to be enamored by because of this particular band. When everybody in there is compacted together like sardines, you have no other option than to feel in depth the power and emotion in an incredible live performance such as the one displayed that evening. Stuart Maxfield, inimitable as lead vocalist and bass guitarist, literally perched within inches of the standing audience. This, my friends, is an experience.

It's one thing to write intricate rhymes; it's another unmitigatedly to dispense your soul into the air and leave it hanging over the heads of all in privileged presence. Each member of the Provo, UT-based band yields a unique contribution that seams flawlessly to establish a strong sense of integrity and breathtaking intensity. They're one of those sets that unabashedly offers up their every internal weakness, struggle, virtue, heartbreak, and passion with such finesse that you're either torn open and stitched back up or simply placed atop the world, and no matter what you won't leave without having learned a lesson. The five bucks I paid for an hour of this music resounding in my eardrums are among the best-spent of my life.

P.S. For the record, I totally talked to Robbie Connolly (one inexplicably amazing guitarist) and informed him that their music is the reason I don't need drugs. Is that weird...?

{Soulful Sunday} Katie Thompson

I have no one but the great Brock Wilson to thank for my introduction to the incredible performer and recording artist Katie Thompson. I'm always in search of strong, emotionally intact voices like hers. It honestly blows my mind listening to so many boundaries being broken by one with such vocal power and stamina. And it wasn't until I really started to exercise my own voice that I began to see how much it really does take to make such miraculous music. No one understands the painstaking effort that goes into a piece of art better than a practiced artist. I commend (and find it difficult to abstain from worshiping) those with the hard-earned, however natural, talent that Katie Thompson displays. Listen. And learn!

Happy belting!