Indie folk group The Crane Wives keeps exceeding expectations, with multiple sold-out shows on their very first UK tour. The band has released five albums, but it was only after a few of their songs were featured on viral animated music videos that the band got their first taste of fame.
Nadia Kadek is the support act, a young newcomer standing on stage alone with her guitar. The simple, stripped-back nature of the set allowed her voice to shine through. Her performance was tinged with pain as she sang of the hardships of her immigrant father (‘Fathers’), of love (‘Lemonade’), and heartbreak (‘Always Almost Losing You’).
There was a surge in energy once The Crane Wives came on, to roaring applause. As the four members took to the stage, co-lead singers Emilee Petersmark and Kate Pillsbury, drummer Dan Rickabus, and bassist Ben Zito, their excitement to be in front of such an energetic crowd was contagious.
They kick off with ‘Allies or Enemies’, a fan-favorite that landed the group on international radars. Petersmark urges the listener to “listen close”, as the bright instrumentation and prosaic lyrics weave the image of a fantastical, dream world. It’s no wonder The Crane Wives got their popularity from featuring in an animated music video for a fandom. Their work seems fitting for a fictional story, like the words are taken directly from a fantasy book: “The words I speak are wildfires and weeds / They spread like some awful damn disease”.
‘Bitter Medicine’ is the first track the group performs from their latest album, the 2024 Beyond Beyond Beyond. The two co-leads share this song, with a moment of harmonization where the crowd joins in, a light end to a rueful and fervent tune.
This drop in energy continues with a track from Coyote Stories, a slower, quieter folk song titled ‘Metaphor’, about using one’s “sweet and meaningless” words to “stretch the truth out of shape”. This is fitting, as The Crane Wives’ lyrics have been one of their strongest points: singers Petersmark and Pillsbury have written the songs collaboratively since they realised “they could create music that was so much stronger when they worked together”. Listening to them harmonise on stage, you can hear the emotion carried in every word.
‘The Garden’ is one of the best tracks of the concert, brimming with a feral energy. “My darling, the devil knows my name,” Petersmark growls, hitting every note while headbanging ferociously and moving to the tune. Both singers are undeniably talented, but Petersmark is the star of this song, glowing with an undercurrent of energy as she sings of ghosts, crows, blood – the vicious heroine of a forgotten folktale.
With fan-favorites ‘The Moon Will Sing’ and ‘Never Love an Anchor’, The Crane Wives are at their very best, thriving off the energy that the crowd radiates. These were the songs that propelled them to international fame, and the singers’ vocals are overlaid by the voices of the crowd, joining together as if one instrument.
The drummer speaks up for the first time to tell us that ‘Sleeping Giants’ will be their last song of the set. It would have been a fitting ending, with an energetic rhythm that had the crowd clapping on beat with the band, the band members scurrying off to huge applause.
But they don’t take long to return for an encore to perform ‘Curses’ and ‘The Hand That Feeds’. The latter is one of the band’s few politically charged songs, and a personal favorite. The song is an omen against the American dream, warning the listener of trading their time for money by recalling the singer’s father, who “sold his dreams and all of his days / for the great American ruse”. The song builds up in energy, teeming with anger that climaxes with a vehement promise: “I may never be a rich man / but I can make sure that I am free”.
The energy escalates with the final song, ‘Tongues and Teeth’. The frantic upbeat tempo and disquieting lyrics end the show with a bang. The Crane Wives’ Bristol show is an amazing journey through their musical career, and a promise that the band is here to shape the future of the indie folk genre.
Words by Catarina Vicente
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