This Saturday and Sunday, Smale Riverfront Park will come alive with a collection of unique music makers, as The National hosts the Homecoming music festival (with guitarist Bryce Dessner’s long-running MusicNOW festival happening concurrently at the National Underground Freedom Center and other venues around town). Most of the artists share an exploratory and experimental approach to music, but the true thread that connects each act is a unifying collaborative spirit.
Here’s a look at the scheduled performances, which occur on two stages located on the east and west sides of the Roebling Suspension Bridge. We’ve also compiled a playlist featuring music and videos from many of the Homecoming artists.
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
1 p.m. “Electric/Garcia/Haven Counterpoints” featuring Bryce & Aaron Dessner (East Stage)
This Homecoming kick-off performance with the twin Dessner brothers from The National includes versions of “Electric Counterpoint,” a piece composed for guitar (and “tape”) by minimalist legend Steve Reich, and “Garcia Counterpoint,” Bryce’s solo contribution to the 2016 charity Grateful Dead tribute compilation put together by the brothers which took Reich’s approach to a transcribed Jerry Garcia guitar solo.
1:45 p.m. Spank Rock (West Stage)
Just as you can call The National a Rock band and Mouse on Mars an Electronic act, Spank Rock is a Hip Hop artist, but his exploratory creative nature makes such categorization potentially deceptive. Inspired by hyped club music, Rap and Art Rock, the Baltimore-born/Philly-based Naeem Juwan broke through with 2006’s cult classic YoYoYoYoYo, but his deconstruction of the genre’s architecture was more obvious on 2011’s Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is a Fucking Liar, which featured elements of everything from Bounce to Noise Rock.
2:30 p.m. LANZ (East Stage)
Multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lanz is a member of Beirut and a touring member of both Sufjan Stevens’ band and The National. Though trombone is the instrument for which he is most known, he is also an active composer and the singer/songwriter behind
LANZ, making intriguing Indie/Art Pop reflective of formative influences like Sebadoh, Pixies, Brian Eno and Syd Barrett. LANZ’s latest album, the superb Hoferlanz II, was released earlier this month.
3:15 p.m. Lord Huron (West Stage)
Lord Huron comes to Homecoming a week after releasing what many are anticipating will be the L.A.-based band’s breakthrough, Vide Noir, its major-label debut album on Republic Records. Not that singer/songwriter Ben Schneider’s project needed a ton of help grabbing attention; Lord Huron’s upcoming shows in large venues across the country have been selling out well in advance. Famed producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, MGMT) helped Schneider realize his expansive vision for Vide Noir, which Relix said is Lord Huron’s “trippiest and most exciting music yet.”
4:15 p.m. Sam Amidon with Sam Gendel (East Stage)
Singer/songwriter Sam Amidon brings an avant-garde sensibility to Folk music. Initially, Amidon rearranged tradition and public domain Folk songs, adding unexpected shades and instrumentation, but last year he emerged with his first album made up entirely of original material. On The Following Mountain, Amidon comes off like an artist with a Nick Drake voice and a Sun Ra mindset, with the stream-of-conscious arrangements augmented by scattered percussion, freeform Jazz drums and skronking sax riffing from Sam Gendel, with whom he re-teamed for his latest release, 3 Songs for J/H.
5 p.m. The Breeders (West Stage)
While helping to build the template for modern Indie Rock with Pixies, Dayton, Ohio’s Kim Deal formed The Breeders as an outpost for her unused songwriting. Though lineups shifted, when Pixies dissolved in ’93, Deal had The Breeders’ “classic lineup” in place (sister Kelley Deal, Jim Macpherson and Josephine Wiggs) and released Last Splash, one the ’90s’ seminal AltRock albums. The Breeders’ membership went back in flux for several years, but in 2012, the Last Splash musicians returned and this March the group released the well-received album All Nerve.
6 p.m. Mouse on Mars (East Stage)
Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma’s 11-album discography as Mouse on Mars has borrowed ingredients from EDM, IDM, ElectroPop, Ambient, Post Rock, Dub, Krautrock, Jazz, Classical and any number of other genres to create a feast of blissfully unclassifiable avant-garde music. The chronic collaborators from Germany’s just-released Dimensional People is as inventive and imaginative as anything Mouse on Mars has done in the past 25 years and includes guests like Justin Vernon, Zach Condon and Homecoming artists Spank Rock and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner.
7 p.m. Father John Misty (West Stage)
Josh Tillman (better known as Father John Misty) has a knack for grabbing headlines with his sly, wry sense of humor. Meta satire and music-press trolling aside, his alluring stage presence and compelling, timeless Folk and Rock songs are what have made him an Indie superstar; 2015’s breakthrough I Love You, Honeybear is one of the
best albums of the decade. Misty recently announced his follow-up to last year’s acclaimed Pure Comedy; God’s Favorite Customer is due June 1 on Sub Pop Records.
8 p.m. Julien Baker (East Stage)
Just a couple of years ago, Memphis singer/songwriter Julien Baker put her debut album out on Bandcamp. Her grippingly intimate, emotive and hypnotically atmospheric music garnered attention immediately, leading to one of 2017’s best-reviewed albums and her debut for indie label giant Matador, Turn Out the Lights.
9 p.m. The National (West Stage)
The reason Homecoming is happening. Since its self-titled album debut in 2001, The National has become one of the biggest American Rock bands in the world. The group (which won its first Grammy this year for its latest album, Sleep Well Beast) is now headlining arenas and stadiums and has worked its way up to the top of big music festivals across the globe, while also presenting National-curated fests like Homecoming and September’s There’s No Leaving New York event at Forest Hills Stadium.
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
1 p.m. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (West Stage)
Electronic artist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith released her debut in 2012 after graduating from Berklee College of Music. Her ambient soundscapes caught the attention of the Western Vinyl label, which has released her past three albums. Last year’s The Kid was her most accessible yet; a concept album tracing human emotional development through four stages, Smith’s more pronounced song structuring and the way she folded organic sounds into the snyth-laden layers earned it high praise from outlets like NPR and Pitchfork.
2 p.m. Lisa Hannigan (East Stage)
Irish Indie Folk singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lisa Hannigan’s first solo album, 2008’s Sea Sew, was an instant success, earning praise from The New York Times and leading to a Mercury Prize nomination and record deal with ATO. After a hiatus brought on by writer’s block, Hannigan teamed up with The National’s Aaron Dessner for her third album, 2016’s At Swim, which showcased the breadth of her talent, blending haunting lushness with occasional experimental sounds.
3 p.m. Big Thief (West Stage)
Operating with a vast palette of Indie Rock shades and hues that is captivating in its cohesion, Brooklyn Indie Rock group Big Thief issued its first album, Masterpiece, in 2016 through respected label Saddle Creek. On the debut and its equally effective 2017 follow-up, Capacity, Big Thief’s music can alternately bring to mind everything from R.E.M. and Liz Phair to Cat Power and Courtney Barnett, but it’s the musicians’ songwriting and arrangements that make the group stand out as one of the more promising Indie acts in America.
4 p.m. Ben Sloan, Artist-in-Residence, with A Delicate Motor and Bryan Devendorf (East Stage)
A graduate of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Cincinnati’s esteemed College-Conservatory of Music, drummer/percussionist Ben Sloan has been involved in community projects like the MYCincinnati youth orchestra, and he was the guiding force behind Price Hill’s public “Percussion Park.” In Indie music, Sloan has toured with Why?, played in his own group, Lazy Heart, and joined local musician Adam Petersen when he turned his A Delicate Motor solo project into a full band to make the album Fellover My Own. ADM recently signed a deal with SofaBurn Records to re-release the amazing full-length to a wider audience later this year.
5 p.m. Future Islands (West Stage)
Toiling away in the studio and on the road since 2006, Baltimore’s Future Islands climbed up the indie label ladder before landing on the legendary 4AD imprint (also home to The National) for 2014’s Singles. That album’s unusual and imaginative Art Rock/Post Punk/New Wave/SynthPop concoctions caught fire and subsequent releases — as well as the band’s enchantingly eccentric and powerful live presence — have helped Future Islands achieve and sustain its status as a go-to music festival act at Alt events everywhere. In early April, Future Islands released their fifth album, The Far Field.
6 p.m. Moses Sumney (East Stage)
Though he’d released a pair of EPs since 2014 and collaborated with artists like Solange and Beck, most discovered Moses Sumney’s transcendent falsetto voice and dreamily majestic music with his 2017 breakout Aromanticism, which elegantly showcased his slanted, impassioned Indie/Soul/Folk/R&B fusion. Critics have also praised Sumney’s live shows, passionate and intense affairs during which the singer layers vocal loops and is accompanied by percussion, guitar, keys and violin.
7 p.m. Feist (West Stage)
Leslie Feist broke through in a big way in her native Canada after her 2004 major-label debut Let It Die, scoring a pair of Junos and a platinum record. While also receiving attention internationally, it was with 2007’s The Reminder that she transitioned from Indie Pop star to Pop star, earning a Top 10 hit in the U.S. with “1234.” Since then, Feist has retained her loyal fanbase and almost unanimous critical acclaim, as well as her collaborative Indie spirit. Besides maintaining her longtime membership in Indie Rock ensemble Broken Social Scene, Feist has worked with Grizzly Bear, Wilco, Jarvis Cocker and The Muppets. Last year saw the release of her fifth album, Pleasure.
8 p.m. Alvvays (East Stage)
Dynamic Dream Pop band Alvvays came together in Toronto in 2011 and recorded a self-titled debut full-length two years later. As word spread online (and via cassettes passed around to stir interest), Alvvays scored record deals in Canada, Europe and the U.S. (Polyvinyl). Within a month of its release in 2014, Alvvays was No. 1 on the CMJ charts and the band was invited to giant fests like Coachella and Glastonbury. Sophomore album Antisocialites was released last September and earned “best of the year” nods from NME, The Guardian and others.
9 p.m. The National perform Boxer (West Stage)
Your Homecoming hosts and curators present an extremely rare full performance of the 2007 album, Boxer, a landmark moment for The National, as their popularity in the States began to soar. Boxer includes National classics like “Mistaken for Strangers” and “Fake Empire.”
Visit ntlhomecoming.com for tickets and complete info on Homecoming. MusicNOW performances at the National Underground Freedom Center (near Smale) are free for Homecoming ticket holders. Visit musicnowfestival.org for details on other MusicNOW events.
This article appears in Apr 18-25, 2018.