Dead Gowns with No Fun Haus and Little Oso – Blending & Bottling
Oxbow Live: Dead Gowns with No Fun Haus and Little Oso
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| Dead Gowns |
Dead Gowns is the project of Portland, ME songwriter, Geneviève Beaudoin. In her latest collection, the How EP, ideas of shedding, and the power and tenderness required to do so, are evoked again and again.
‘Renter Not A Buyer’ is the cheekiest of the tracks, but also the most indelible. The chorus is a veritable earworm, as catchy as it is damning. It’s a multi-faceted exploration of the shells we inhabit, the work involved in preserving them, and how they so often fail us. The narrator, hungover and late to work, tumbles down the stairs from an apartment too drafty to be habitable. Bleeding from the mouth, she tries to kiss her date goodbye, avoiding a larger reality in her body. Beaudoin’s own experiences with endometriosis inform this exploration: she sets concealed pain in direct opposition to the demands of saving face. This process is invariably fraught and she is the first to recognize the absurdity of trying at all.
The rest of the EP is less fixated on the pitfalls of how one presents to the world. Though Beaudoin first wrote these songs as unspoken dialogues, she sees them now as affirmations intended for herself. ‘How You Act’ is a reclamation of agency, empowering the narrator to forgive and accept: “Yeah it’s messy, grow up your heart” illustrates this revelation, with Beaudoin’s voice ringing out unaccompanied for a brief moment of quiet triumph. ‘Change Your Mind’ is a moving celebration of this new life, emerging with gusto from the past. Set atop swelling strings and the warm swagger of a Fender Rhodes, the track’s affirmation feels earned and regal. But it’s in ‘Real Life’ that Beaudoin realizes that there’s no fixed point here. She must make peace with the fact that her desire for change will always run alongside a past that won’t entirely stay past.
On the EP’s one-year anniversary, Dead Gowns has partnered with Vinyl Me, Please for the first vinyl pressing of the collection, with new songs ‘Kid 1,’ ‘Castine,’ and ‘Kid 2’ closing out the b side. Rather than detract from the central narrative, the new additions fill out the frame.
Throughout How, now in its expanded form, Beaudoin deftly traces the molting process, from the darkly comic wriggling of the larval state to the transcendence of uncalloused being. The sense of visitation in these moments – both hushed and universal – reiterates that new life begins by accepting, rather than discarding, one’s past messes.
| No Fun Haus |
No Fun Haus is 4 intrepid travelers who somehow crossed paths and are glad they did. Tinkering with a fusion of indie rock, folk-rock & emo-country, No Fun Haus blends soulful melodies, midwestern existentialism, raw vocal performances and jam-influenced drum grooves to bring a fresh sound to your noise receptacles.
| Little Oso |
Little Oso is a dreampop band from Portland, Maine. They blend layers of sparkly guitar sounds with shimmering vocals and upbeat tempos to make you want to dance or get under a blanket or dance under a blanket.
Their most recent EP “Happy Songs” commemorates summertime nostalgia and can be streamed in most places.For fans of The Cranberries, The Vaselines, The Cure, Lush, Shop Assistants, Slowdive, and Alvvays.
[$17 ADV/$20 DOS | Doors 730PM | Show 8PM]