The ‘dark folk’ and ‘psyched-out punk’ of Kalamazoo’s Fiona Dickinson: The Local Spins Artist Spotlight (Podcast, video)

Playing at this weekend’s Lamp Light Music Festival in Grand Rapids with Cobalt Mexican Wolves, the well-traveled British-born singer-songwriter finds camaraderie, inspiration in the Double Phelix collective of musicians.

 

From “very dark ambient folk” to “psyched-out punk,” Fiona Dickinson finds a way to express her edgy, riveting music with a voice steeped in emotion, cinematic orchestrated eloquence and a distinctive, literary resonance.

It’s not surprising then that the British-born songwriter who now makes her home in Kalamazoo also has  caught the attention of filmmakers seeking Dickinson’s talents in scoring and creating soundtracks for their psychologically compelling movies (including Grand Rapids director Zac Page’s upcoming “Burst Theory”).

For Dickinson, it’s another boundary-pushing step in a musical journey that began after she moved to Michigan with her parents about 10 years ago, after spending time in the United Kingdom and the Middle East because of her father’s involvement in the aviation industry.

“Especially waking up every morning right next to a mosque and hearing the call to prayer, that is music,” Dickinson concedes. “I mean, it’s more than music, but to my English ears, that is music. I think that does affect me vocally.”

The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, cello and other stringed instruments) dove into the music scene after “meeting people in Kalamazoo who encouraged me” at the former Strutt nightclub, and eventually, the Double Phelix music collective, which represents about a dozen inventive acts.

“We just collaborate constantly,” Dickinson says of working with Double Phelix musicians in their Kalamazoo studio and practice space. “If someone needs a cellist, I’ll be called in for that, so I’ve played on a lot of albums through that. It’s also great for me. Whenever I want a full band, those guys are there.”

Those Double Phelix collaborations also have spawned a side rock project with producer/multi-instrumentalist  Andy Catlin and other musicians dubbed Cobalt Mexican Wolves, a punk-styled, “ghostly art rock” outfit featuring about a half-dozen members that serves as the noisier alter ego to Dickinson’s more laid-back folk-oriented solo work.

“I think it’s just sort of out of desperation out of going to so many basement punk shows, I needed a punk band to be in,” Dickinson suggests. “We do a lot of experimentation and a lot of psych music at times, so it’s our psych group. It’s really weird, but it’s fun. People have compared it to Velvet Underground or Siouxsie and the Banshees. It’s definitely very different from my solo act.”

NEW SOLO ALBUM ‘IN THE WORKS’ AND A BRACING FULL-BAND SHOW

On Wednesday, Dickinson showcased her compelling solo side during Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW), singing her song, “29,” on the air. Check out a podcast of the entire show here, with a video of that performance below. (Tune into Local Spins Live at 10 a.m. every Wednesday for a spotlight on regional artists and upcoming concerts.)

Calling on diverse musical influences which include Jeff Buckley, Billie Holiday, Nick Drake and Radiohead, Dickinson released her debut album, “Duende,” in 2011.  A follow-up solo project is “in the works,” though Dickinson makes “no promises as to when” it might get completed and released.

Dickinson and the Cobalt Mexican Wolves are among about three dozen bands performing this weekend as part of the second annual Lamp Light Music Festival, a singular celebration of house concerts taking place in five Eastown neighborhood homes. The festival, organized by musician John Hanson of Strawberry Heritage, puts an eclectic blend of local and regional acts into cozy living room settings for one-of-a-kind concert experience. (Get tickets and details online at lamplightmusicfestival.com)

Dickinson – who will also play a full-band show at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids on Nov. 18 – performed at the Lamp Light fest last year and found it exhilarating. (Get more information about Dickinson and her concert schedule at fionadickinson.com.)

“It was hands down my favorite gig of 2012,” gushes Dickinson, who will also play cello with Sam Cooper at 1 p.m. Sunday in The Hen House in addition to Saturday’s late-night set at The Waffle House with the Cobalt Mexican Wolves.

LAMP LIGHT: CREATIVE PEOPLE, AN INTIMATE SETTING AND ‘INCREDIBLE FOOD’

Dickinson cites “the intimacy of having people right there in the living room. For me, and the music I play, those songs are written and rehearsed in most situations in a living room, so it’s wonderful to have friends and strangers in a very comfortable environment playing that way. And there’s food. There’s something really wonderful about playing music, being with creative people and having incredible food.”

The festival meshes established, nationally acclaimed acts with up-and-coming local performers. Just a few to highlight:

Breathe Owl Breathe (1 p.m. Saturday at The Hen House) – With a brilliantly atmospheric new album, “Passage of Pegasus,” this northern Michigan trio is liable to draw even more critical kudos from the national media. And something else worth noting: The band’s van was stolen on a recent West Coast tour. When it was finally recovered, the trio discovered that all of their gear and instruments were missing. A cataclysmic event, to be sure. But with support of friends, family and fans, they’ve sauntered on, continuing to book interesting shows in unusual places like Lamp Light.

Ghost Heart (9:30 p.m. Saturday at The House of Pancakes) – This experimental Grand Rapids rock outfit has been hard at work at Grand Rapids’ Goon Lagoon on its sophomore recording (after earning quite the buzz for its debut, “The Tunnel”), which should be out in early 2014. A good time to catch the band unveiling some new material because guitarist Troy Reimink says the Lamp Light set will be “mostly non-Tunnel stuff.”

Frontier Ruckus (7 p.m. Saturday at The Neighborhood House) – This literary folk-rock outfit may be the most famous Michigan band on the Lamp Light bill (though The Soil & The Sun, Samantha Crain and  Jamaican Queens certainly boast a national audience). The eastern Michigan-based band, which toured heavily this year behind its most recent album, “Eternity of Dimming,” is “back in the studio, working between Detroit and Ann Arbor this time, to record our 4th record,” Frontier Ruckus’ David Jones tells Local Spins. “This next record is definitely our most informed by the pop sensibilities we’ve environmentally absorbed throughout a young lifetime, from all the ‘alternative’ pop rock songs we memorized in minivans on the way to soccer practice to all the great melodic rock ‘n’ roll from the 70s that we’ve investigated as adults.” He also describes it as a “break-up record yet also our most upbeat sounding,” with the band’s female voice, Anna, returning to sing harmony and tour. The record is due out in 2014.

Others on the Lamp Light bill include Rick Chyme, Paucity, Valentiger, Chain of Lakes, Gifts or Creatures,
Wallace Collective, Lasso, Flint Eastwood, Antrim Dells, Molly B. and Scott of Blue Molly, plus many more.

Get the full schedule, $35 weekend tickets, house locations and information about Lamp Light workshops at the official festival website.

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music