On July 8, Ann Arbor’s Nathan K brought his signature honesty and precise finger-picking to a Kalamazoo audience at the Strutt. Nathan’s songs have a certain feel to them; kind of like driving away from someone you really love, and thinking about why you love them.

Fiona Dickinson made everyone stop in their tracks, beers half lifted to their lips, necks craned to to see where this sound could possibly be coming from. Accompanied by an all-star band of locals, Fiona’s spacey folk grew into a cloud of strange and unsettling emotion that was at once familiar and mysterious. All we knew was that it was beautiful, and we wanted to be close to it.

The Mind Death Quintet slowed things down a bit and turned each chord into a multi-layered wave of swirling sound. Jeremy Ruggles‘ voice floated over the top, like Gene Wilder in a room full of psychedelic candy, re-assuring listeners that it was all right to keep walking further into unknown parts and pleasures. I haven’t felt this way since I had that nervous breakdown at that Pink Floyd laser light show in 1999. Just kidding. But seriously.

p.s. I had the pleasure of making the flyer for this event. If anyone wants me to design flyers for their show, it’s only $10! Shoot me an email at james.r.duke@wmich.edu and tell me what you’re looking for.