alex silver

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Tag: indie music

  • C’est le temps: La Kermesse Festival next Saturday

    Alex Silver staring at the camera in front of a blooming yellow bush and a house with white siding.

    “C’est le temps.” This is the beautiful motto of La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival in Biddeford, Maine. I just finished the school year yesterday and it feels appropriate. I’ll be playing outside with a lighter-hearted set to celebrate, mostly recognizable songs but a few of mine too. George Harrison, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel. I’m especially happy to be learning “Le temps de vivre” by Georges Moustaki, a song I’ve loved for a while but really my first in French. Feels good to sing in a language I speak.

    2:30-4:00pm, Outdoor Stage. Tickets are $8 for a day pass, or $13 for a weekend festival button. Historical souvenirs don’t make themselves… probably worth it!

    https://www.pressherald.com/things-to-do/do-this-calendar/#!/details/alex-silver-at-la-kermesse-franco-americaine-festival/15922952/2025-06-21T14

  • Chico States at The Apohadion Theater June 8th

    Flyer for Lily Seabird, Hemlock, The Clearwater Swimmers, and Chico States at The Apohadion Theater in Portland, Maine on June 8th at 7pm, $10 cover. Flyer features a reservoir of water reflecting clouds and a windmill in a blue western sky. The text was created on burnt paper; three matches and a few hand-drawn butterflies sit three-dimensionally upon the picture's surface.

    I’m excited to share that Chico States will be playing with a great lineup on June 8th at The Apohadion Theater in Portland. It also happens to be the birthday of our bandleader Joe Barresi. We’ve played with The Clearwater Swimmers before, at Oxbow. And we’ve also played with Lily Seabird, in a way…

    Last winter we traveled to Burlington, VT for a house show with Greg Freeman, Jes, and Vega. Little did I know that the two friends Greg asked to join him were Francie Medosch, of Florry, and Lily Seabird. Each played some of their own songs and they were so good! When Medosch played, I thought, “This person definitely has something and could do a lot if she feels like it.” I found out later from Joe that she definitely does do a lot, in this great band Florry. It was a naive way to see them all for the first time, only realizing later that they’re hustling so hard out in the world.

    My favorite thing was sitting in a big recliner with a few beers and listening to an hour of Beatles songs, perfectly played on a piano, by a group of partygoers with inordinate grace. Lily kind of ran the piano and I’ve since learned that she also does her own songs very damn well. She put on Trash Mountain on Lame-O Records in April. Joe also informed me that the house itself was called Trash Mountain, so I feel lucky to have participated. Anyway, we’re very grateful to play in this show! It’s at 7pm and the cover is $10. Would love to see you there.

  • Essai: I see you when I’m not thinking straight . . .

  • Essai: “Big cloud raising its head”

    With this one, I was mostly focused on getting a workable sound for the recordings going forward. I wanted to sing twice to give the impression of intentionality. As I went back over, following the original words of the improvisation, I started to think of the slight mismatches with an image in mind. I thought about hand tracing over something, how doing that implies that the original is the model. 

    If something is a model, maybe it takes on that abstract sense of permanence we attribute to song. In fact, I often take issue with this feeling of permanence (existentialists would call it essence) because I think it is false. What I like about the air of tracing is giving both the sense of improvisation—of creation—and of completion and intentionality at the same time. I would like if it helped me, and listeners, to notice both of those aspects of any phenomenon.

    Listen to this latest “Essai” on SoundCloud.

    Did you see that big cloud
    raising its head?

    Giving a warning
    to everyone
    trying hard

  • Last Karaoke of 2021: Old Thing

    I’ve now arrived at the last installation of the “Karaoke” series, which I typically made quite on-the-fly as I recorded songs or covers in early 2021. This is the only video I made that’s my own song.

    Old Thing doesn’t appear on any album yet, but you can hear this demo version on SoundCloud. It was definitely one of my favorites to sing for a time. Also, I really miss the stereo setup behind me in the video. That room was special for my partner and I. The stereo was this big, free-standing block made of books and it had such a wonderful physicality to it. The light entered that room in just such a way.