Village Green concert will feature RT’s with special Lopez guest

||| FROM BETHANY MARIE for ORCAS CENTER |||

The RT’s play the Village Green stage with special guest Derek Eisel on Thursday, July 13 at 6pm as part of the FREE Summer Concert Series presented by Orcas Center, OrcaSong Farm, Country Corner, and The Outlook Inn.

In the modern musical landscape, it’s rare to find a band that stays together, committed to a collective vision. Conservatory-trained musicians (the five musicians met in college studying jazz performance), the RT’s cut their teeth holding residencies at peanut shell-strewn bars across New York City and touring international jazz circuits. They built their reputation on delivering high-energy performances and recorded studio albums in pursuit of faithfulness to the endorphin rush of their live show.

Imperfectionism, the RT’s latest album released on May 26, marks a transformation. Driven by a pop-forward, synth-infused sound, the eleven tracks showcase The RT’s songwriting at its most intimate and eclectic, unfettered and experimental. Always genre-bending, the fuzzy-toned guitar and hip hop-inspired percussion spur a psychedelic undercurrent, while restrained horns gesture toward their jazz-inspired past. It’s a dancefloor record with an eye toward introspection. The resulting sound is a little new wave, a little retro, and undeniably groovy.

Derek Eisel is a farmer and musician on Lopez Island. He plays a one man show of songs and poems/storytelling broken into short sets where the audience can guess the theme to win a dozen eggs from Watmough Bay Farm, the farm he shares with his husband. You can find Derek’s book, What Kind of Man, at the Lopez Book Shop and at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle.

Glide Magazine said “Eisel explores relationships with a charming and earnest folk sensibility. With a vocal tone and cadence that at times brings to mind contemporaries like Father John Misty.”

Orcas Center’s Summer Concert Series on the Village Green is FREE thanks to donations from local businesses including Island Tax Service and Kabloom Landscape Design. More information and full concert lineup can be found at www.OrcasCenter.org.