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The below write-ups on Emily the Band and Fiona Kimble were also published by Smile Politely in abbreviated form. I wrote a review on Fiona Kimble’s music years ago. It was good to see she is still playing music.
Emily the Band
Emily Antonacci, lead singer of the three-piece Emily the Band, has lost count of how many times her group has played at the Rose Bowl Tavern. But she did know it was the Peoria-based band’s first PYGMALION gig and was thrilled to be a part of the outdoor festivities throughout the 45-minute set.
Under the big white tent, the band’s breezy sound blended perfectly with the beautiful Saturday afternoon that had a touch of a breeze. Songs played included “The One Till the End” – a tune Antonacci wrote when she was 12 years old – and “Zero Gravity,” “Relics,” and “Boyfriend.”
Antonacci and guitarist Cami Proctor harmonized pleasantly on a few songs, with the latter musician pulling out a melodica for the intro of the song “Blurred Lines & Pretty Words.” The melodica is an instrument with a keyboard that produces a harmonica-like sound by blowing into a mouthpiece on the side. Prior to launching into “Blurred Lines,” Antonacci said the piece makes a “bus-horn” sound and called it “the greatest instrument ever made.”
Before playing “Brooklyn Lady,” Antonacci explained the song has a line in it about having a tattoo of a tiger on a stomach, which her band made a T-shirt of as merchandise. Some in the crowd were wearing the band’s shirt, and the singer noticed.
“I’m a performer. I love knowing that people like me, so thank you for wearing our merch,” Antonacci said to the crowd.
Early into the show, the singer informed the audience of approximately 30 people that she came to Urbana-Champaign to attend school and soon halted her education to start playing music. If the constant joy she conveyed on stage was any indication, the ukulele-playing Antonacci made the right move.
Proctor was almost as animated as Antonacci while the more stoic drummer, Abbey Haste, kept steady, snappy time throughout the performance, which concluded with a catchy unreleased track and then the upbeat “Poison.” When the music ended, the interesting band with the plain name had the crowd cheering and in its pocket.
Fiona Kimble
Of the many musical acts performing at PYGMALION this year, one of the pleasant surprises to see on the bill was Fiona Kimble, a singer-songwriter from Champaign who released solo albums in 2015 and 2017.
Both of Kimble’s records have a sparseness to them with open, vulnerable, reflective, and sometimes sad lyrics. Kimble’s 2017 CD, Your Playground, showed improved songwriting and contained more expansive musical landscapes compared to her debut effort, No Regret.
Kimble’s musical growth was further evident at the Rose Bowl Tavern during PYGMALION, following the lively performance by Emily the Band. Wearing a pink skirt, a Harley-Davidson T-shirt, and holding a large guitar in front of her, Kimble looked comfortable on stage with her pink-tinged hair. Her formidable voice was robust; the songs were dreamily atmospheric; the bass guitar properly throbbed; and the keyboard work by Kelsey Sharp, who came all the way from Florida to play with Kimble, provided a beautiful accent to the music.
“I rarely get to play with Kelsey, but her energy is so special and I just am so grateful to have her here with us,” Kimble said to the crowd before playing the elegant-sounding “Valley of Worry” with her friend.
At one point during “Valley,” when Kimble wasn’t at the microphone, she closed her eyes, put her hand on the top of her chest, and swayed to the sound. Kimble doesn’t banter with the crowd much, but she does sing with passion and seems to feel the music of her fellow musicians in her bones.
The duo then played a song by the other Fiona – Fiona Apple – a slow, bluesy number that would have been more at home in a swanky bar at 3 a.m. Kimble told the crowd she loves the tune and closed her eyes in the middle of it as Sharp played gentle piano.
The full band came back out and concluded with Kimble’s brand-new single, “Are You Alright?” There’s an upcoming video for the song that will be released as well. It appears Fiona Kimble is back.