Events

9:00 PM, $7 suggested

Elastic Arts
2830 N Milwaukee

Songwriter Showcase featuring Maria Jenkins from Hollows and Stephen Ucherek of Village

Maria Jenkins of Hollows is clearly influenced by the Beach Boys, Mod rock and other 60’s music. But to describe her and Hollows as simply a girl group throw back would be to miss the subtleties that make her songs unique. A punk aesthetic and a lyrical sense of self awareness give Jenkins’s songs an adroit edge. Her voice cuts through thick keyboards and guitars to deliver sophisticated melodies that develop throughout the course of the song. Jenkins builds tension through slightly disonate refrains before releasing with yells and sweeping choruses.

With a voice that seems unafraid to fight the rising tide, Stephen Phillip Ucherek of Village writes like he’s in a state of self exorcism. Like with Pavement or Hendrix, guitars seem like they are on the verge of bursting free, even in Ucherek’s more subdued songs. A sweet melancholy, more than a deep despair, provides the depth, and the lyrics provide more of a setting than a story.