Kalispell
Eau Claire’s Kalispell released their first EP Eastbound recently in their hometown at The House of Rock and Shane Leonard, Kalispell’s leader, in advent of the release, told Eau Claire’s Leader-Telegram that the album had “been a long time coming” due to his cross-country gig as an English teacher. With the help of musician friends (Ben Lester, Kevin Rowe, Dave Power, Jess McIntosh, Jeremy Boetcher and Jaime Hansen), Leonard was able to commit to recording, his writings that are simple and pretty, deeply rooted in roots sounds. “That music is pretty minimalistic lyrically and instrumentally,” Leonard told the Leader-Telegram of the band’s sound influences. “(Kalispell) songs, the form of them is definitely influenced by (old time music)…they’re not like verse, bridge, chorus…[and] don’t follow the pop-music formula, which I like.” According to Leonard, Kalispell’s influences range from writers such as Steinbeck and Fitzgerald and his own background playing jazz, classical and roots music. Tune in to 91.7 FM WMSE today at 2 p.m. to hear Kalispell, live, or visit WMSE.org to stream the performance. Listen, below to a song from Kalispell; “Last Year”.
