The Acre, Kingsley Flood, Pearl & the Beard Concert

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Tonight in Cambridge at TT the Bear's Place at 8:00pm a concert I have been waiting for weeks to arrive will finally be upon us. A C.D. release party is the best kind of party, and a party it will be tonight. Anybody interested in hearing live music and enjoying themselves should come. If you don't live in the area I'm sorry but here is a little sampler of the bands that will be playing tonight. Facebook event page here. Buy tickets here.

The unofficial set times are as follows

8:20 Ugly Purple Sweater

9:00 Bandit Kings

9:45 Pearl and the Beard 

10:45 Kingsley Flood

11:45 The Acre

The Acre's album Cerca Trova is a gem from start to finish and you can finally purchase it tonight. Blending folk and rock, guitars and the piano, the music will surely grab the crowd's attention tonight. 

The Acre - Stereo

Pearl and the Beard are releasing their second album, Killing the Darlings, on May 10th. "Sweetness" is a track off of the album. Learn about the inspiration for the three person sweater in this video with Jocelyn from the band.

Pearl and the Beard - Sweetness

The Acre - Cerca Trova

The Acre's album, Cerca Trova, is being officially released tomorrow and there is a release party/concert at T.T. the Bear's Place, which quite frankly shouldn't be missed. But more on that later.

The Acre - Guilty Soul

The Acre - Hemmingway

Cerca Trova has been playing intermittently over the past month as I've tried time and time again to pick out my favorites. Finally, I've decided that part of what makes this special is that it works so well as a full album. Starting with "Stereo", a song that uses the power of silence and simplicity allowing the voices of Nick Murphy and Courtney Cavanaugh hang in the air, leaving the listener wondering what's coming next. If you're a sucker for the male/female vocal thing, The Acre does it right.

Throughout the album, stories and themes evolve and grow upon one another as girls traipse through the songs either tired or wide eyed. The consistent voice throughout the album belongs to Nick Murphy as he sings about heavy hearts and a cluttered mind with occasional bouts of nostalgia. Whatever you interpret the stories to mean, it all comes across as painfully real. The love of music shows up often in the lyrics "there's something pulling/ at my heart strings and it's playing a tune" or "a case of nostalgia on the stereo" but is even more evident in the  work they put in on the musical arrangements which span many genres and pull from their love of bands like Wilco, Low, Bon Iver, and Built to Spill as well as traditional folk and Americana music. All of which make it a very difficult sound to describe, but I know I like it, and that's all that really matters. It's a wonderful and sometimes rare thing these days to find yourself listening as much to the music as to the lyrics. I'm glad The Acre can do both well enough that they deserve to have far more than a local audience and following. You can listen to more on bandcamp.

The C.D. release party tomorrow, April 29th, will really be as much a party as a concert. You can look forward to not only seeing The Acre, but other notable and exciting bands like Ugly Purple Sweater, Bandit Kings, Kingsley Flood, and New York's Pearl and the Beard. Get your tickets early, it's bound to sell out. Expect a post with music from all the bands tomorrow.

Listen Local: The Acre

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How The Acre Came to Be. Told by the band:
"In the fall of 2005, Nick Murphy and Courtney Cavanaugh started the Acre out of a small dorm room at Bridgewater State College. With the initial goal of playing a few weekly Open Mics, the two armed themselves with a couple of covers and a handful of originals. Fast forward to 2010, the duo is now joined by Steve Rice on bass, Matt Samson on percussion and Danny McNair playing keys and guitar and the Open Mics have turned into club gigs in and around Boston. And as for that fistful of songs, the group turned them into 2009’s the Red Wool."


I came across The Acre by accident, clicking on links on a concert venue website and I landed on their myspace page. I liked what I heard. There is a lot of variety and major differences between songs, some are loud songs that become suddenly subdued, others are quiet lullabies, and some play along the lines of folk/americana songs,  but the common thread is the songwriting and lyrics, and that is what originally caught my attention. They certainly have talent, proven by their songs with well written lyrics that urge you to listen. Nick Murphy and Courtney Cavanaugh's voices meld nicely at the right moments reeling you in, compelling you to sing along.  They are a band to watch, with a new album expected in 2011, it will be exciting to see what they come up with next.

They will be playing at B.U. Central October 2nd, opening for A.A. Bondy.

(The Great American) Novel[MP3]