Fri 2/28 @ 8PM
Cleveland singer-songwriter Jim Fenske spent some time as guitarist with Cleveland alternative rockers State Fair before striking out on his own.
Working as a solo act has allowed him to do some sonic exploration, adding ambient, dub, industrial, and other electronic influences to his songs.
He’s got a new album called Only Half the World Is Bright that showcases the direction he’s moving in. It’s a one-man show — he produced, mixed, mastered, sang and played everything.
Despite the clouds of synth-generated sounds that swath each song, they’re still pretty straightforward and accessible. Fenske’s slightly rough-textured, mournful vocals and lyrics about a world gone wrong recall depressed one-man bands who followed in Nine Inch Nails’ footsteps in the ’90s, but without the lashing rage and lacerating self-hatred.
He’ll celebrate the new album’s release with a show at Mahall’s. Eric McCloskey opens.
The show is free.