Meetups, Premieres, and Shows to Look Forward to in Bellingham This Fall

I try to keep this column focused on music that’s more widely available, but every now and then I have to let you know about some of the more unusual, lesser-known stuff that’s popping up on the fringes of the local music scene.

This week I’d like to highlight The Sheen, an unpredictable group that combines elements of rock, noise, psychedelia, free jazz, and avant-garde into a surprisingly enjoyable stew. They’re getting ready to release their latest album, “Psychic Bog.”

The band has gone through multiple lineup changes over the course of eight years and five albums, with the only constant member being guitarist/vocalist Riley Reasor. Drummer Brock Muench was an original member who left the band and has now rejoined, while bassist Aden Lozar has been on board since their previous album, 2022’s Holocene Rolodex.

Compared to their previous work, Reasor says the new one is different because it features surprising new influences. He is fascinated by contemporary Latin American surrealist horror literature and says that this is reflected in the lyrics. Musically, there is new inspiration from the 80s goth scene (which I should have expected) and from the English folk revival (which I definitely did not expect). The latest track, “Giddy Crosses,” even features a bluesy slide guitar. Reasor describes the lyrical content as “an amalgam of nightmares, images and ideas.”

They will celebrate the album’s release with a show on Thursday, September 26th at The Shakedown, featuring like-minded local artists Pyrocene and ESO. In the future, the band hopes to record a few tapes of the album to give it a physical presence. They are mainly doing short regional tours lasting a few days.

Sheen also took part in the local generator show scene, helping to organize impromptu noise events in unusual locations. Reasor has a distinctive, warped visual style, and his work graces all of their posters and album covers. If you’re in the mood to have your expectations challenged and your perceptions changed, getting involved with this group’s work might be a good way to do so.

Meetings

Looking a bit further ahead towards Halloween, the absolute legends in Black Eyes and Neckties have just announced a reunion show at Shakedown on Halloween night. The event will also be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of their debut album “Stilletto”. If you haven’t been to their best days, they play energetic horror rock, with dark organ and guitar riffs and lots of painted corpses; the perfect Halloween show. Get your tickets and start choosing your costume now.

On a completely different musical note, Nuages ​​is planning to release his latest album in October and play a few local reunion shows to celebrate. This is very good news for fans of “hot club” swing and Manouche jazz. No details yet on when or where, but I’ll be sure to share them as soon as I know them.

New releases

The Spine Readers album, which I wrote about a few months ago, is now available to stream everywhere. They’ve also emptied the vaults on their Bandcamp page, now sharing a bunch of other new and unreleased tracks, including one created by isolating the voice of late vocalist Sean Meyer from a voice memo using AI. I’m pretty skeptical about using AI to create music, but this seems like one of those cases where it makes a lot of sense.

Another recent Bandcamp find that I like is the wonderful “Looking for Signs” EP by Bellflower. Very sweet indie/folk/rock, with some great harmonies. I especially like the way the songs build to massively layered choral outro. It’s cool to see local groups taking the time to create something really big and ambitious in the studio.

Jesse Stanton’s music column, The Beat Goes On, appears weekly. Contact him at [email protected]; @JSBhamMusic. Check with individual venues to make sure events are still happening as scheduled. Live music events in Whatcom County: