Marika Hackman at Turf Club (03 Oct 2024)

Opening the show was local singer/songwriter Hemma.

We previously saw her in Aug 2024 and noted, “local singer/songwriter Hemma, who sings about grief and healing and seems to be inspired by Joni Mitchell. Her biography mentioned that she comes from a large family of singers and sometimes she’s with a full band (but it seems easier for traveling as a soloist). Songs that she played and mentioned were “Patterns” (with the funky beats), “Home”, and “Buckskin Pony” (which she had to not use the pre-recorded background music).”

At the Thursday show, she mentioned that she had boarding school in New Hampshire, so she has a bit of east and Midwest background. After a few songs, she threw on a cowboy hat, and hoped that people recognize that she’s a country-folk musician. She tested out some new songs, including “Lullabies” and something she’s calling “Buckskin Pony.” The new songs are from forthcoming album, working with S Carey (from Bon Iver).

You can preview the forthcoming album on December 7, 2024 at the Icehouse.

Next up was London, by the way of North Wales, Art School Girlfriend (aka Polly Mackey), continuing the quiet/sad songs. “I want to ask ‘Are you ready to rock’, but, no, ‘Are you ready to gently sway?’,” Mackey said in her polite English accent.

It’s a funny observation, but not so different from her appearance with the Japanese House in May 2019: “seemed really quiet and shy throughout her brief and very dark (lightwise) set… With the quiet way Mackey sings and the subject matter of her songs, it is best experienced in a very quiet setting. Perhaps listening on headphones, not in a loud environment.”

After 2021, she captured sadness and regret in her Is It Light Where You Are, then followed by her latest Soft Landing, which Pitchfork described as “intimate and adventurous second album.”

Despite the quietness, there was a technical difficulty that started her Turf Club show. She couldn’t hear herself on the monitor. After a few minutes of fixing the problem, she continues with “Waves”.

After her keyboard wasn’t working initially, she would later comment, “Nineteen shows in a row and it was all fine… until today, it’s a ghost (in the machine).”

She ended her set with a new (unreleased?) song called “A Place to Lie” (which she described as “Not Wanting to Die”). She mentioned that they were coming to the end of their tour and that she hopes to be back soon with a new album, and “working gears.”

Marika Hackman is finally in Minneapolis/St Paul, after a long five-year delay due to the pandemic and she’s finally able to showcase her new album Big Sigh to her fans. Fans were already well-versed in singing along and knowing the music by heart as they were able to listen to the new album for a year by now.

Since her debut album We Slept at Last in 2014, she got high praises from Laura Marling (which she toured with), and critics calling her work “understated and atmospheric.”

She has a full band, which included Polly Mackey on keys, ‘Jelly’ Denniston, Jessica Batour, and Bill Waylor.
In the middle of her set, the rest of the band took a break, leaving Hackman alone on stage to do a mini-solo set, starting with “Cigarette”. She covered Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars”, which came out of the COVID-19 lockdown (she did a series of cover songs during this time, which included Smith, Beyonce, the Sines, etc.)

As previously mentioned, the singer is wrapping up their USA tour, with the last date being tonight (October 5), at the Sleeping Village, in Chicago. She has a big fanbase in Chicago, so they are going to end on a very high note.