Lisa Bozikovic & Kite Hill Joint Album Release Show

“This is truly a special family reunion,” said the executive director of The Music Gallery.

The venue was where local musicians Lisa Bozikovic and Kite Hill debuted their newly released albums, This is How We Swim and Rest & Run, respectively.

Opener Kite Hill’s music filled the acoustics of the church/concert venue beautifully, with lead singer Ryan Carley’s (Ohbijou) haunting vocals and the band’s layered instrumentation’s (nearly 9 or 10 musicians filled the stage at once) building a musical landscape, one melodic block at a time. Artist Sean Frey’s projections visualized the sounds, with images of landscapes, both rural and urban, charmingly accented by moving elements that danced with the music.

Kite Hill describes their sophomore album as “a spotted tale of a band in flux, navigating an ever-changing world as they attempt to stay true to one another. But time and tide are perilous things and finally, simply, what we are left with is not the band, but the soul of the band in music.” That was truly the atmosphere of the band’s set, as it seemed as though each member’s soul swayed with the music they were creating as a unit, lovingly accented by Frey’s projections.

Carrying on with the theme of a family reunion, many members of Kite Hill, along with Frey, transitioned their wardrobes and their demeanors to join Lisa Bozikovic, who dressed her entire band and set in white. “I’m getting married tonight,” she said, “to all of you and to my album.”

The album revolves around the concept of water, and Frey magically imbued the theme with subtlety throughout his work. His use of a rickety old projector added the welcome additional soundtrack of the ticking machine.

Performing This is How We Swim from top to bottom, Bozikovic’s deep, soulful vocals bounced off against her lilting piano arrangements. The artist describes her album as having “a unique sonic landscape” that “intertwines playful synth lines, experimental percussion, and orchestral swells” – an accurate description of how wide-ranging and varied the album’s sound is.

The title track was a special moment that evening. It cemented the fact that Bozikovic and her music are best stripped down, without the bells and whistles.

Bozikovic’s set felt slightly under-rehearsed – she laughed off a stumble when she had to restart a song because she had “lost a moment” – albeit very impressive considering she had only just met her backup vocalist five days prior. And she had never performed these songs with this band before, as the musicians with whom she had recorded the album were all unavailable that evening.

And as Carley had dedicated a song to his father, who had retired earlier that day, Bozikovic also dedicated “Into the Waves” to her mother – a song she had written about how she coped with death in her life, including that of her mother’s. Haunting and still, the song sent a collective chill up our spines.

Kite Hill and Lisa Bozikovic continue on with their family jamboree through October.