Brighten The Corners Presents a co-headline show with loner-folk, cosmic country artist Jeffrey Silverstein from Portland, Oregon, and Sheffield-based americana, psych, ambient artist Bobby Lee. Playing The Church in Ipswich on Friday 14th August, with support from Norwich based primitive folk/ambient explorer Lone Mesa.
“Cosmic country with a gentle sweetness, reminiscent of Beachwood Sparks and Silver Jews at their twangiest” NPR (Silverstein)
“Journeys out toward that stoned and immaculate perimeter where reality blurs between the future and now, where truth and fantasy meld and the desert expanse of the mind begins to resemble the great celestial horizon” Aquarium Drunkard (Lee)
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Time: 7.30pm - 11pm
Venue: The Church, Ipswich
Tickets: £14+bf
Support: Lone MesaAge Restrictions: 14+ (14- 17s must be accompanied by an adult)
Accessibility: There is step-free access into the venue and the bar / accessible toilet / venue are all on one floor. For further information, please email info@brightenthecorners.co.uk so we can make your visit as comfortable as possible.
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Meeting at the intersection of the loner-folk, cosmic country and kraut-laden choogle, ‘Coming Back Around’ finds Jeffrey Silverstein reflecting on moving homes and moving on.
Where his past several releases saw the New Jersey native settling into life in the Pacific Northwest – observing, appreciating, getting the lay of the land – and finding his footing in the alt-Americana sphere into which he unexpectedly fell, with ‘Coming Back Around’, he’s immovable, intentional, and most of all, at peace.
“I don’t often write with someone or something specific in mind. This song was an active attempt to challenge my process”, Silverstein shared about the song. “I had a movie playing in my head before the music and lyrics were fully formed. It goes as follows: someone, for uncertain circumstances, has to move back to their childhood city. It’s not exactly something they want to do, but have to. There is comfort there (‘the door is always open and the beer is always cold’) but something just doesn’t sit right. They reconnect with said place, make their peace with it, and press on (‘but you’re compelled to move, chase a never-ending groove’). I suppose you could say it’s about things coming full circle.”
Having played shows throughout the US with such names as Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Rose City Band, Widowspeak and more, Silverstein is now turning his attention back across the Atlantic for co-headline shows with Bobby Lee in the UK and Sweden this summer.
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Bobby Lee trades in a wide screen brand of cosmic country-folk, full of space and pawn shop guitars. There are touches of JJ Cale’s analogue Americana, the swampy groove of Tony Joe White and Richard Thompson’s sinewy, modal guitar work. Amps hum in the warm afternoon sun, kids and dogs snooze on the grass and broken drum machines keep time with the universe...
Bobby released his debut album, Shakedown in Slabtown, in August 2020, on his own Natural Histories imprint, which Mojo Magazine described as “word of mouth sensation amongst discerning heads.” It was swiftly followed by Origin Myths in March 2021, released on the legendary Tompkins Square Records, becoming album of the week on Huey Morgan’s 6Music show and gaining support from BBC’s Late Junction, No Depression, The Guardian, NTS and WFMU. His third album Endless Skyways, (also Tompkins Square), landed in June 2023, with a return to the full band sound of his debut.
2025 saw the release of “Last Ride”, a collaboration with ambient pedal steel explorer Joe Harvey-Whyte on LA’s Curation Records (Beachwood Sparks, Pacific Range, Triptides). Taking in Paris, Texas-esque dusty instrumentals, west coast canyon-rock, brit-folk pastoralism, kosmische choogle and new-age mellowness. The UK pair bonded over their broad church approach to cosmic country, where Eno and Arthur Russell stand shoulder to shoulder with Gram and JJ Cale.