Despite five days of freezing temperatures and very little sleep, I had a great time at the Treefort Music Festival last year so I decided I’d head back again for 2024. Fortunately, the weather cooperated quite a bit better this year, I also managed my sleep schedule better (i.e. I didn’t make early morning plans each day I was there) and I had another fun experience.
Neko Case was the headliner for the first day of the festival, and while I’ve seen her perform a dozen times or so, I certainly wasn’t going to miss that. There were also a number of amazing performances from artists I was already familiar with but had never had the chance to see live before: Mary Timony, CMAT, Pokey Laforge, zzzahara, and Ryan Curtis. But like I did with my post last year, I’m going to highlight the standout moments that came from artists I heard at the festival who were brand new to me.
Patrick Watson and the Boise Philharmonic – Patrick Watson is an artist who I might have actually heard before but he hadn’t ever crossed my path in a way I remember. (Like jobs and personal relationships, I guess connecting with music can be a lot about ‘the right time and the right place.’) On Saturday, the forth day of the festival, the weather had turned colder and I had a moment of lethargy where the idea of hoofing it 5 blocks to catch an act seemed less appealing than a nice, comfy chair inside somewhere warm. So, I headed to the Morrison Center on the Boise State University campus to see this performance I really didn’t know anything about… which is the perfect setup for an amazing experience. On his own, Watson’s music often has a melancholic, dream-like quality. Paired with an orchestra, the beautiful lighting of the Morrison Center stage (and even some ballet dancers), the experience was magical.
Cassandra Lewis – While it seems that she’s moved around quite a bit in her life, Cassandra Lewis has ties to Idaho and her mom was sitting stage-side during this packed performance at the The Shrine Social Club which lead to several touching moments during her performance. It also turned out that Lewis was celebrating having just signed a record deal with a soon to come release. This seems like well deserved recognition for a powerful voice that is made for bringing the best out of a country song. By the way, I have to share the video Lewis did for her track “Darlin.” Shot at a downtown Portland landmark, it’s an incredible example of what can come from the blending of cultures (and countercultures).
The Kindness and Sam True – The Kindness is a three-piece jazz group based in the Boise area. Lately, I’ve bee listening to a lot more jazz and particularly drawn to more minimalist styles (something I’ll probably focus on in another post coming up) so stopping in to see this group felt like an obvious choice for me – and the band was great. But my single biggest highlight of the entire festival came at the close of their set when they brought out a guest vocalist from Boise, Sam Tru, and did a cover of Kharma Police. I wish I had video of this performance that I could share but (thankfully) I was so transfixed in the moment that I didn’t think to distract myself with my phone. It was an incredible version of a modern-day rock classic that both simplified the song to it’s essential core and then exploded out into improvised jazz energy.
Sistemes Inestables – At the end of The Kindness performance I struck up a conversation with a guy from San Francisco who turned out to be a drummer and drum teacher. We got talking music (and drumming) and he told me I had to stay for the next band. (I found out later that this 3-piece band from Chile was a group one of my drum teacher’s back in Portland knew as well.) Unfortunately, I don’t think their recorded works capture the full energy of the live performance but what followed was an enthralling fusion of ambient, prog-rock, and electronica that built into an intense soundscape. I looked across the venue and I could see every person was sucked in as the band created layers of melodic repetition only to be blown apart in explosive bursts.
The Schizophonics – It’s late on your second (or is it third?) night of the festival. You’re some number of beers in and you’re starting to come down from the rush of that last great band you just saw. But you step into another venue to see what’s going on and are confronted by the most hyperactive, high-energy frontman you’ve ever seen. Distorted fuzz rock pounds away as the singer careens back and forth across the stage, somehow playing his guitar parts with just one hand, and then proceeds to literally perform while standing on his head. This is rock and roll.
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