$10 in advance/$12 at the door
9pm doors/9:30pm showtime
21+
Broken Water:
http://brokenwatermusic.bandcamp.com/
In the center of downtown Olympia, Washington, in the middle of a parking lot, is an artesian well that spews fresh, ready-to-drink water from a metal pipe at the rate of ten gallons per minute. It’s often said that those among us who drink from the well, will never leave town, and even if we do, we will always inevitably return. The beer once brewed in Olympia even has “It’s the water!” written on the can. This is considered a form of proof, the way the pyramid on the dollar bill is considered a form of proof. Olympia, then, is a town with a tether, a fluid pulse, a mythology open to interpretation. However you slice it, it’s a place teeming with ghosts, even if your ghost is just the shadow of who you were earlier this morning.
The Olympia three-piece Broken Water— a sometimes noisy, sometimes droning, often pretty and subtly poppy band—is very much a product of its hometown. Shape-shifting over the course of EPs, singles, and full-length albums released consistently since 2009, the band has managed the rare feat of evolution in the service of a signature sound, wild experimentation that ultimately works as a harness, locking down the music’s unique and idiosyncratic internal logic.
Broken Water has hundreds of live shows and several studio releases under their belt. Their latest full-length, Tempest, picks up where 2010’s Whet (Radio is Dead/Night People) left off. Both albums hit notes of nostalgia for fans of post-punk, no-wave, grunge, and shoegaze alike. But, as with the best of the bands who inspire a backwards glance, Broken Water celebrates its influences without leaning too heavily upon them. It’s clear that their charm and vision have ambition beyond mere facsimile.
Daisy Chains:
New Minneapolis band featuring members of Miami Dolphins and Tree Blood.
Waveless:
Minneapolis trio Waveless is Hannah Kathleen, Jared Sather and Dustin McChesney.
Shawn Reed from Night People Records will DJ between sets.