Frail Talk with Bear in the Forest and The Spine Stealers
Doors 7PM / Show 8PM
$10ADV / $12DOS
Formed in the foothills of Northern Colorado in early 2020, Alex Woodchek and Cor Wright of Frail Talk are creating a blooming universe of squiggly indie music for squiggly people. Like the kind surprise of a backyard garden, their songs spring up from the dirt with folk roots, soft pop colors, and burgeoning lyricism ready to welcome every listener with daydream-love.
In August of 2024, Frail Talk released their sophomore album, Microspirit. Recorded in seven days of heat-sweat-friend-magic in Silsbee, TX alongside producers Hannah Read (Lomelda), Tommy Read and with the help of Tobias Bank (drums) and Nathaniel Riley (bass). With more attention to the emotion and substance of sound than ever but with the same honesty Frail Talk has always valued, Microspirit touches on the landscape of the queer divinity in all things, and world speaking through bugs, dogs, sunsets, and friends.
The album itself has already had a life in the time it’s been out, being featured on NPR Tiny Desk’s Top Shelf, getting multiple features from their video “little al” and landing singles its first two weeks on Spotify’s “Fresh Finds” and “Fresh Finds Folk” playlists.
Through the art of mashing folk-pop sensibilities with strange-space-synthetic-sounds, Frail Talk offers a landscape where one’s self, surrounding, and experiences are as much a part of the songs as the music itself.
The future is bright for Frail Talk. It’s all love now.
Hailing originally from New Orleans, LA, Bear in the Forest currently resides in Madison, WI with his cat-son Osito (Spanish word for “little bear”). Inspired and driven by music from a young age, he was fortunate to be accepted into the First Wave scholarship program at UW Madison. The training he received there, combined with inspiration from artists such as Bon Iver and Hozier, are just a couple of my driving forces as he works to create music rooted in personal experience and the trials and tribulations of the world around him.
The Spine Stealers are a two-gal duo making “spooky folk” influenced by the north-wood Wisconsin pines, 24/7 truck stop diners, heartbreak, and dark lakes. Kate and Emma started learning guitar together around bonfires in their shared hometown during the height of the pandemic, soon writing songs inspired by lonesome winters, the heartaches of nostalgia and broken ideas of love. The duo started frequenting open mics in July of 2022, which led them to a whirlwind first year as performers. It began with opening for Dead Horses at Madison’s Majestic Theater for Folk Fest 2023, then winning the 2023 Blue Ox Music Festival Virtual Band Competition, and releasing their first ever EP, “River Teeth Tapes” in July, 2023. 2024 brought the release of several singles, a feature in DAYBREAK magazine, and most proudly, the recording of their debut album “If the Sky Falls, Beyond the Sidewalks,” released in October, 2024. The duo is making a name in the Midwestern folk scene, and anxiously await the introduction of their sound to new corners of the country during upcoming tours.