Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
SEVEN IN SEVEN
Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock ’n’ roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out.
Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of May 20:
1 Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss — Friday at The Colonial Theatre
It’s a long-in-the-works union that country music fans have been waiting for. Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss, close friends and compatriots for many years, have finally joined forces to share their accumulated wealth of musical successes on theater stages across the country. Appropriately titled “Together at Last,” the show features both artists on stage for the entire performance, swapping songs and stories, singing harmony and playing guitar on each other’s biggest hits. Never content to rest on their past achievements, the pair brings new material to these shows, along with two careers worth of humorous and heart-warming stories.
2 Ben Vaughn Quintet — Saturday at Ardmore Music Hall
Philadelphia-area native Ben Vaughn returns to his old stomping grounds to perform with the Ben Vaughn Quintet, then heads to Spain to tour in support of the recent Record Store Day release “The World of Ben Vaughn.” Following seven albums — including “Rambler ’65,” which was recorded entirely in his car — and touring internationally, the singer-songwriter spent more than a decade in Hollywood creating television music for “Third Rock From The Sun” and “That ’70s Show” and scoring numerous films.
3 Suicide Silence — Saturday at Reverb
Suicide Silence have come full circle and returned to their original label home, Century Media Records, in the wake of nearly two decades of nonstop touring around the globe, hundreds of thousands of records sold
and cementing themselves as a lynchpin band in modern extreme metal. Now, the Riverside, Calif., quintet has rejoined the label that released their first three albums and latest single, “Speaking in Tongues.” Next month, they’ll be putting out a deluxe edition of their 2007 debut LP, “The Cleansing,” so expect some looking in the rearview at Reverb, along with the punishing assault of new music. 4 Indie folk’s May Erlewine has an exceptional talent for reflecting on her experiences and crafting them into songs to which all can relate, with her words giving solace to weary hearts, offering a light in the darkness to many and space for the pain and joy of being alive. Her latest album, this month’s “Tiny Beautiful Things,” is no exception. Named after the book by Cheryl Strayed, which contains a selection of intimate letters between total strangers, it’s a collection of songs focused on the power of connection and the emotional exchanges surrounding love, with a production serving each song with a tenderness you can both hear and feel deeply.
May Erlewine — Saturday at City Winery 5 Slow Crush — Tuesday at The Foundry
After touring pretty much nonstop all over the world from the end of 2018 until January 2020, including tours with bands like Pelican, Torche and Soft Kill and playing a slew of festivals, Belgian shoegaze rockers Slow Crush were forced to take a break from the road when COVID-19 hit. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they were able to fully dedicate themselves to their sophomore effort, “Hush.” The album radiates moonlit warmth through a
Indie folk artist May Erlewine plays City Winery, Philadelphia, on Saturday. haze of abrasive whirling once again. Note that the layered guitars and soulsoothing first show will be supporting vocals by Isa Holliday. Primus, while in Ardmore There’s a lull of wistful the band will be headlining.
7 longing and tranquil bearing, Sumo Cyco — contrasting cascading Wednesday at Harrisburg echoes of beautiful noise, Midtown Arts Center showcasing a strong level of Over the course of the past growth in both songwriting several years, Ontario, Canada’s and musicianship. Sumo Cyco, featuring teen pop-superstar/songwriter turned rock goddess Skye “Sever” Sweetnam as well as producer/guitarist Matt “MD13” Drake and bassist Oscar Anesetti, have proven themselves as one of the hardest working DIY-toovernight sensation stories in heavy music, boasting an undeniable following of fans with their impressive mixture of metal, pop and everything in between. Now, after a short run supporting Buckcherry, the band have embarked on a headlining tour, arriving at HMAC with Black Satellite opening.
6 Battles — Wednesday at Wind Creek Event Center and May 26 at Ardmore Music Hall
New York City art-rock icons Battles are bringing their incendiary live show to the region with two dates, one in Bethlehem and the other in Ardmore. The gigs are in continued support of their most recent full length, 2019’s “Juice B Crypts,” which married synthesizer loops, cut-throat drum patterns and cyclical riffs into a sensory overload of information and musicality that threw everything fans thought they knew about the storied group into flux