Ariel Smith Photos
Bombadil.
On Monday night, Daphne Lee Martin, Ohmme, and Bombadil brought their collective talents downtown to Cafe Nine on State and Crown streets.
With her strong voice and minimal setup, the New London-based Martin captivated the room with an exploration of new tracks off her latest album, Scared Fearless.
Ohmme is Simma Cunningham and Macie Stewart from Chicago, augmented at Cafe Nine by a drummer. Cunningham told us that the group’s 2018 LP, Parts — the pair’s most recent release — was about bodily autonomy.
Ohmme.
“Happy Pride Month and happy pro-choice,” Cunningham declared as she and Stewart launched into their set, playing songs from a setlist scrawled on a pizza box propped at the front of the stage.
Their music was wholly unpredictable; at one moment hovering on the edge of pop, the next rock, the third experimental as Stewart played a distorted violin. Their vocal harmonies were angelic, and the improvisational, meandering guitars kept us on the edges of our seats; there’s no real way to describe it except to tell you to listen.
Bombadil is Daniel Michalak, James Phillips, and Stacy Harden, from Durham, N.C. Though the members have shifted a bit over the years, the group’s vibe was of a cohesive and recognizably Southern source; it was folk and pop mashed into one and would likely be at its best heard outside in thick summer heat and long grass.
Even so, the music had an infectiously uplifting quality that translates probably anywhere it travels. The trio had a full room of people at Cafe Nine nodding along and tapping their feet.