Langley Community Music School’s (LCMS) first concert in the Concerts Café Classico series welcomes a unique indie-folk group, West My Friend, to the Rose Gellert Hall.
Singer-guitarist Eden Oliver and LCMS alumni singer-mandolinist Alex Rempel, and singer-accordionist Jeff Poynter, draw from folk, classical jazz, and pop to create their own grassroots sound.
“The name is West My Friends because we’re all friends and grew up of the West Coast” Poynter laughed, a former Langley resident. “It’s also a nod to the movie One Week where a character is told to ‘go west, young man’.”
With over 650 performances under their collective belt, the Canadian Folk Music Award nominees will be returning to Langley to perform works from their newest album, In Constellation – freshly released this past September.
The album, the trio’s fourth, was recorded in Victoria, B.C. with a 53-person symphony orchestra, but the group will be bringing an intimate trio version of their songs to this concert with plenty of three-part harmonies.
Their upcoming performance at LCMS marks the first in the 2019 season’s Concerts Café Classico series – Sunday afternoons once a month, made up of intimate alumni performances, coffee, and conversation.
“I studied there from 1994 to 2004,” Poynter added. “It gave us a foundation in music, Alex [Rempel] and I both went there and were introduced to different instruments. It was the first time we had been in a space dedicated to music.”
The afternoon will begin with a pre-concert conversation with the artists at 2:30pm, hosted by Elizabeth Bergmann, LCMS’s artistic director.
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“Their performances present a refreshingly honest approach to song writing and as you take in their unique music, you will find yourself reflecting on various current themes and topics,” Bergmann said. “I look forward to hearing their original material and their personal and engaging musicianship.”
The concert is Sunday, Oct. 20, with coffee and and commentary starting at 2:30 p.m. and performance running from 3:30 to 4:40 p.m.
The Rose Gellert Hall is located at 4899 207 St at LCMS.
People can get tickets for West My Friend online at www.langleymusic.com.
“It will be cool coming back to LCMS and playing for students who can see this is where they could end up after going to that school,” Poynter said.
Paul Hung, flute & Bogdan Dulu, piano are up next for the Concerts Café Classico series, performing on Nov. 17.
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Email: ryan.uytdewilligen@langleyadvancetimes.com
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