On the Move — DASHpf Finds Hope and Connection in New Places on “Things We Used to Make” EP

DASHpf’s Peter Felsman gets nostalgic on “Things We Used to Make” EP. Courtesy photo.

In August 2021, Peter Felsman traded Brooklyn for Marquette.

The indie-folk singer-songwriter had relocated from New York City to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for an assistant professor of social work position at Northern Michigan University.

While adjusting to that change, Felsman had started writing songs for what would become Things We Used to Make.

“It is beautiful in Marquette, but the pace of life was a huge contrast to Brooklyn, where I had moved from, and I had more space to reflect on the last few years,” said Felsman, who records and performs as DASHpf, about his latest EP.

“A lot of the songs focus on making meaning of the past to help move forward, and they did. I was able to make a lot of amazing memories in the U.P. and [find] fodder for new albums.”

Felsman explores the EP’s overall theme through five concise tracks, which feature honest lyrics, soulful vocals, and earnest instrumentation.

“Thematically, this EP feels very nostalgic,” he said. “It is past-focused in a way, but it is fundamentally a hopeful album.

“[The track], ‘Witch in California,’ is a song about attending an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Bootcamp and committing to be a better person! ‘Nicole’ is a song about missing my friends, but ultimately motivated the creation of the [EP] with my friends.”

A year ago, Felsman made another professional move from Northern Michigan University to Oakland University.

I recently spoke with Felsman about the inspiration behind Things We Used to Make and his new role in academia.

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A Decade Later — Chris DuPont Celebrates 10th Anniversary of “Outlier” Album With Willis Sound Show

Chris DuPont. Photo – Misty Lyn Bergeron

After more than a decade of releasing music, Chris DuPont wants to revisit one of his earliest albums.

The Ypsilanti, Michigan singer-songwriter is paying tribute to his second album, Outlier, for its 10th anniversary with a show at Willis Sound.

“For many Ann Arbor listeners, Outlier was an introduction to my songwriting,” said DuPont, who’s performing songs from the indie-folk album with a full band on July 10.

“The longer I make music, the more important it feels to pause and celebrate milestones and to look at how I’ve changed and grown since then. The season of creating and releasing that album holds a great deal of memory, and I want to honor it before I dive fully into my next body of work.”

In 2015, he penned Outlier’s 10 tracks after confronting personal challenges related to his mental health and faith.

“In terms of what it means to me now, I think Outlier contains the opening statements of a discussion I’m still having with myself and the world around me,” DuPont said. “It’s the writings of a young man who’s coming to terms with his own mental health challenges, but still in the earliest stages of owning his problems and being good to those around them.”

Looking back, DuPont sees the emotional and spiritual growth that’s come from that creative experience.

“It’s the serpentine spiritual musings of someone who is enamored with the faith tradition he came from, yet deeply saddened and enraged by the abuses it inflicts,” he said. “These songs took some big swings to talk about relatively tough things, but looking back I think I may have pulled my punches in ways I wouldn’t now.”

I recently did an email interview with DuPont about Outlier ahead of his celebratory show.

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Folk Storytellers — Kate Hinote Trio Shares Vivid and Emotional Tales on “Stowaways” Album

Kate Hinote, Matthew Parmenter, and David Johnson of the Kate Hinote Trio. Photo – Greg Aubry of Aubry Photo

Whether fact or fiction, the Kate Hinote Trio uncovers buried emotions on Stowaways.

The Metro Detroit group explores everything from longing to disappointment to grief on its latest indie-folk album.

“These songs came out less like poetry than my typical lyrics because I was very focused on telling a story each time,” said Hinote, the trio’s vocalist and one of its songwriters.

“We wanted each one of these songs to be like a window into another world. We wanted the stories to be clear, and I didn’t want to be too vague about what I was saying.”

The 10 new original tracks featured on Stowaways are anything but vague. Many of the tracks include a vivid storyline about a protagonist examining the purpose of a relationship and the intense feelings that accompany it.

“One of the big differences in writing this record with Matthew is that he’s also a songwriter who’s been composing his own songs on his own for decades,” said Hinote, who co-wrote six of the album’s tracks with violinist Matthew Parmenter and one with guitarist David Johnson.

“The lyrics and story are very important to him, and we always talk about ‘What’s the story here? What does the song mean? What will it mean to others when they hear it?’”

The trio’s lyrics range from fictional to personal and encourage listeners to process their relationships alongside them. Those sonic experiences are further heightened by Hinote’s enchanting vocals and Parmenter and Johnson’s vibrant acoustic instrumentation.

To learn more, I spoke with Hinote about the inspiration behind the trio’s latest album.

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Over Time — Tom Alter Contemplates Past Lessons and Future Challenges on “Under the Firmament” Album

Tom Alter explores the passage of time on “Under the Firmament.” Photo – Jay Jylkka

The passage of time weighs heavily on Tom Alter’s mind.

The Fraser, Michigan, singer-songwriter examines lessons from the past while addressing challenges of the present and future on Under the Firmament.

“When I write, I usually write songs about things that are staying in my mind for a while,” said Alter about his latest indie-folk-rock album.

“It can be issues or life events that are sticking with me, and I can’t let go. Time is an aspect of it, and I think it is just living and the common experiences that we all have.”

Alter chronicles those experiences through nine perceptive tracks, which feature contemplative lyrics, haunting guitars, and atmospheric instrumentation.

“At my age, I’m even writing more about time now on the songs I’ve been writing since then,” he said. “I think the theme will continue into my next album and project. I think it’s … trying to grapple with life and how it impacts us as individuals and as a community.”

I spoke with Alter about Under the Firmament and the inspiration behind it.

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Momentary Feelings — Lilly MacPhee Overcomes Heartbreak and Disappointment on “This Too Shall Pass” Single

Lilly MacPhee closes a difficult chapter and finds catharsis on “This Too Shall Pass.” Photo courtesy of the artist.

Lilly MacPhee knows moments of heartbreak and disappointment are fleeting.

The Detroit singer-songwriter acknowledges those emotions and their ephemeral impact on her latest indie-folk single, “This Too Shall Pass.”

“It was the first song I had written when I moved back from Nashville, and it was an accumulation of everything I had been through over the years. When I was living in Nashville, my best friend Jackie [Pappas] and I would talk on the phone several times a day,” said MacPhee, who briefly relocated to Nashville in 2023.

“I would vent to her, or she would vent to me about something. But when I would vent to her, she would always say, ‘Lilly, this too shall pass,’ and it [stayed] with me. And then I thought, ‘That sounds like a song. Thank you, Jackie.’”

On “This Too Shall Pass,” MacPhee closes that difficult chapter and finds catharsis in family and friends. Comforted by serene acoustic guitar, she sings, “I kissed lips that spoke lies / Met grief eye to eye / Cried to the ones who cared / When silence was too much to bear.”

“Songwriting itself is like therapy—it’s how I view it. You get everything out and it makes you feel better. A song like that is bittersweet,” she said.

“You hope people don’t relate to it, but you’re OK if they do because it’s a comforting feeling for them to know that they’re not the only ones experiencing heartbreak, grief, or whatever else they might be going through in life.”

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Tried and True — Ryan Trager Stays the Course on “Don’t Let Them In” Single

Ryan Trager stays true to his vision on “Don’t Let Them In.” Photo by Cybelle Codish

Ryan Trager doesn’t deviate from his path.

The Metro Detroit singer-songwriter follows his instincts and keeps the detractors at bay on “Don’t Let Them In.”

“For me, last year was so nuts with the election and everything. It’s easy to get swept up in all of that. In some ways, it connects back to us,” said Trager about his latest indie-folk single.

“I was thinking about the single and the meaning behind it and staying true to your own beliefs and behaviors. It’s easy to get swept up in the media, and we have so much access to things. You can lose yourself and lose the things that matter to you.”

In response, Trager pledges to keep himself grounded and focused on “Don’t Let Them In.”

Backed by earnest acoustic guitar, cello, and Mellotron, he sings, “They will give you a thousand reasons / And you’ll be tempted to believe them / But all their conviction is just a fiction / Oh please, don’t let them in.”

“I had had enough distance from the song that I needed to hear the message,” said Trager, who recorded the single in 2021. “It’s not letting anything stop you from doing whatever you want to do.”

To learn more, I spoke with Trager ahead of a February 8 show at Trixie’s Bar in Hamtramck, Michigan.

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‘Heavy’ Rotation – Cece June’s New EP Paints an Emotional Self-Portrait

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

For Cece June, life is filled with near-misses and unresolved emotions.

The New York City singer-songwriter processes a gamut of feelings—from heartbreak to frustration to hope—about unclosed chapters on her latest indie-folk EP, How Did This Get So Heavy?

“It’s a feeling that emulates the void when something is no longer in your life. It’s that feeling of trying to grapple with not having people around anymore or accepting that you’re going to have to move on,” said June, a University of Michigan alumna from Barcelona, Spain.

“It’s also feeling displaced or feeling frustrated. For instance, on ‘Things Unsaid,’ you’re [ruminating] on why something could have gone wrong and thinking, ‘I could potentially have an idea of what went wrong, but if I wanted to talk to the person for them to tell me and for me to get closure I can’t because they’re no longer in my life.’ There’s no way to answer those questions to let you move forward and move on easier.”

Despite those challenges, June faces her emotions head-on and looks to the future on her sophomore release. She chronicles loss, acceptance, and growth across eight tracks, which feature cathartic lyrics and wistful stripped-down instrumentation.

“I found solace in seeing the songs evolve as I evolved as a person myself. This EP was written and recorded over two-and-a-half to three years,” June said.

“There were songs that would ebb and flow, and there were times when I was recording them in the thick of the pain or times when I was reminiscing … and no longer being in the depths of that feeling or the grief or the heartbreak.”

To learn more, I spoke with June about her EP and the inspiration behind it.

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Back to Basics – Hollow Head Explores Raw Alt-Rock Sound on New Self-Titled Album

hollow-head-3 — Hollow Head’s Elliott Miller, Ian Gerrard, John Baldwin, and Jim Adame. Photo – Paul Gerrard

Last August, Hollow Head’s Jim Adame and Elliott Miller took an expeditious approach to writing and recording their sophomore release.

The two bandmates from the Denver quartet created a makeshift studio at an Airbnb in Fairplay, Colorado to quickly capture the nine tracks for Hollow Head over six days.

“We didn’t go into this album with a theme in mind. The main thing that we wanted to do was write and record the majority of the songs together at once,” said Adame, the band’s vocalist-guitarist, about their new album.

“They all weren’t written at the same time, but most of them were written in a shorter period of time compared to A Spark of Madness. That’s more of a common theme with our songs.”

What resulted are nine tracks filled with honest, thoughtful, and vulnerable lyrics about processing internal struggles and sharing them with the outside world.

“That’s also why we decided to have the album be self-titled,” Adame said. “There wasn’t a lot of separation this time between Elliott and me—it was a lot more collaborative.”

Miller, Hollow Head’s vocalist-drummer, agreed: “It feels like our first true record. The other one was a bunch of different stuff pieced together.”

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Land of Confusion – Tom Alter Questions the State of the Nation and World on ‘Dispatch From the Lesser Middle’ Album

For Tom Alter, life has become quite the head-scratcher.

The current social and political state of the nation and the world leaves him questioning the present, yet remaining hopeful for the future.

“I turned 65 this year, and there’s so much in this world that leaves me shaking my head,” said Alter, a Fraser, Michigan singer-songwriter and guitarist. “I really never thought things would be like this … and as I was writing, somewhere in the middle of the process, I wrote the song, ‘A Wilderness.’”

The insightful opener from Alter’s latest indie-folk album, Dispatch From the Lesser Middle, features a dream in which he speaks to his younger self about being resilient in life.

Backed by wise acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass, he sings, “Young man buckle up / Living takes a lot of trust / If this sounds cliché / Don’t know another way I can instruct you / If I only had / A wise old man / Tell me what he’d come to know when I was young.”

“It’s saying, ‘Well, what did you expect?’ It’s kind of always been like this.’ Some of it is just trying to understand some of these changes that are going on in the world, but also realizing that they may not be permanent,” Alter said.

“When we’re young, we think everything’s gonna go along swimmingly, and we can set goals, and they’ll be achieved. The line I like in this song is, ‘You better buckle up,’ and I was setting myself straight.”

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Heal Up – Lucas Powell Overcomes Heartbreak and Finds Closure on ‘Lose You on My Own’ Single

lucas-powell-2024 — Lucas Powell finds renewal and clarity on his new single, “Lose You on My Own.” Photo courtesy of Lucas Powell

Three years ago, Lucas Powell embarked on a pathway to self-healing.

The Royal Oak, Michigan singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist found closure from a past relationship after writing a new song about it.

“I often write to tell stories about myself and my experience and to process my feelings. This one was a song I wrote to say all the things I couldn’t say directly to a former partner,” Powell said.

“Going through heartbreak without explanation leads to a lot of self-gaslighting and blame and was one of the loneliest periods of my life.”

What resulted is Powell’s cathartic new single, “Lose You on My Own,” which openly explores that heartbreak and disbelief alongside emotive indie-rock instrumentation.

Backed by intrepid electric guitar, synth, bass, and drums, Powell sings, “Now, I’m pulling at the steering wheel / And I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel / Looking in the rearview mirror because forever didn’t last / Asking, “How can this be real?”

“I hope people who hear this song will be given words for what they feel and know they aren’t alone in their experiences,” he said. “Three years later, I couldn’t be more thankful in every way for the changes I’ve endured via the specific hardship mentioned in this song.”

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The Stratton Setlist

Catch the opener. Stay for the encore.

Tag: Indie folk