Love n'Co at Seeing Sounds.
Eleanor Polak photo
T!lt's Mike Scialla: “This is our last song, so we usually go crazy."
“You can do anything. That’s my main motto,” Lovelind of the local rock-pop-soul band Love n’Co told the crowd at Edgewood Park’s Seeing Sounds Festival. “It won’t be easy, but you can do anything.”
That proved a fitting tribute to the artistic accomplishment that was Saturday’s fest — which saw a swath of the park turn into a vibrant venue for beautiful clothing, delicious food, foot-tapping rhythms, and a feeling of camaraderie that lasted longer than the last notes of a song.
Saturday marked the third anniversary of the local music and art festival.
Orion Solo: "I’m proud that my community cares about it."
Organized by Orion Solo (a.k.a. Trey Moore), the festival has only gotten bigger and more ambitious with each passing year.
Saturday’s outing included vendors, food trucks, and two stages for musical performances, stretching from Coogan Pavilion to the skate park to the adjacent walking path and grassy fields.
As a teenager, Solo wanted to attend the Odd Future Carnival — Tyler the Creator’s festival, now called Camp Flog Gnaw — but couldn’t afford to go. So he decided to create his own music festival, right here in New Haven.
“Seeing Sounds was started with just an idea,” Solo said on Saturday. “I always felt like we needed things in New Haven that we care about.”
While Seeing Sounds has steadily gained support and funding over the years, Solo said he is most proud of the “sense of belonging” felt by attendees to the festival.
“I’m proud that my community cares about it,” he said. “I’m proud that other people are proud.”
That community pride — and fun and enthusiasm and eclecticism and vitality — infused seemingly every band and vendor and attendee at the fest.
Lou Cox and Johnny B.
Johnny Brehon, co-owner of The Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, decided to sponsor and attend Seeing Sounds for two reasons: to promote his business and to support his community. The second reason was vastly more important to him than the first.
“We’re all about community,” he said. “This is our community, and we’re here to spread positive vibes.”
“You’ve got the art component, and the physical component,” added Lou Cox, of Channel 1. By “physical component,” he meant the power of a group of people being together in the same space, supporting and uplifting each other.
“This is what New Haven is turning into, this vibrant art scene, but we’re not forgetting about the community,” said Brehon.
Kimmy Reindl, Louise Patterson, Jessy Mathews, Paul Albert, and Mike Ryan.
Some of the booths located around the park were occupied by political groups. At the Dare to Struggle booth, volunteers handed out pamphlets with information about relevant issues to the New Haven community, like gentrification, framed as a war against the homeless, poor, and longtime residents.
“We fight a lot of forms of oppression by going to the people who are suffering that oppression,” said Mike Ryan, a member of the group. “We hear what they say and do what we can to help them as a group.”
“People, whether they’re politically active or not … want to see stuff change,” added Ryan. “We want to put a challenge from us: come out with us, we will learn from you and you can learn from us.”
Jei Ortiz.
Other booths housed vendors like Jei Ortiz, who represented her clothing business, Royal Lifestyle. It was “a brand that focuses mostly on affordable but fly,” said Ortiz. “The name came because we believe that everyone is the ruler of their own destiny.”
When asked what she liked about the festival, Ortiz said, “I mostly love the outfits,” gesturing to the people passing by in bright colors and elaborate makeup. “But also I love the sense of community, that everyone here is supposed to be here.”
Ashley the Creator.
Ashley the Creator vended her original art pieces and advertised for her July 20 art show, “Pomology.” It was her second year vending at the festival.
“The vibes are great — we have a whole lot of different vendors with amazing work,” she said. “It’s good exposure for people of the community to know what’s around them … it builds connections.”
Kyla Divine.
Kyla Divine represented her business, Beyond Pain Collective. She resells vintage clothing and specializes in custom beaded adornments. “I try to take old vintage pieces and I break them down and use them to make new pieces,” she explained.
It was Divine’s first year at the festival, and she was very glad that she had come out. “I really love a celebration of creativity and I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “It’s a really good community bonding experience.… We need more avenues where local people, especially people of color, can be uplifted and literally given a stage.”
Love n'Co.
Seeing Sounds provided not just one but two stages, a small one and a larger one. On the small stage, the band Love n’Co performed, composed of Nino Ciampo on percussion, Cliff Robbins-Sennewald on guitar, Sam Jacobs on keys, Clancy Emanuel on drums, Allie Brown on bass, and Lovelind on vocals.
Their music was upbeat, energizing and empowering, and they got the crowd singing and dancing along to original songs like “Coffee,” “Chocolate Bar,” and “Clueless Love.”
T!lt performs "Movies."
Meanwhile on the main stage, the band T!lt performed, composed of Mike Scialla on vocals and guitar, Luca Costantini on vocals and guitar, Hayden Carter on bass, and Connor Simposon on drums.
“Today I’m Jesus, and we’re gonna, I don’t know, fuck up, I guess,” said Scialla, before launching into a seamless set of songs inspired by bands like Nirvana and Cage the Elephant. They performed originals like “Dust Bunny Symphony” and “Movies,” to the cheers and applause of the crowd.
“This is our last song, so we usually go crazy,” said Scialla. The song was “I Killed a Man in a Different State Just to See How It Would Feel,” and after clearing it with the organizers, Scialla leapt off the stage and over the railing into the crowd, to dance among the audience.
Ammar performs "Elephant in the Room."
Next to perform was Ammar with his accompanying band. He combined soulful lyrics with heavy beats, building and dropping in intensity so that the music felt like an emotional rollercoaster. Ammar’s songs ranged in topics from music about Palestine (accompanied, after some technical difficulties, by a Palestinian flag on the screen behind him) to music about hating an ex.
“I’ve lived all over the place,” he said, “and there’s something about this place that makes me want to stay.”
Seeing Sounds was about music, art, and business, but more important, it was about people supporting each other and recognizing all that the people of New Haven have to offer.