Opera House: Niceness & Oh Hellos, 3/16 & 3/17

13 Mar Opera House: Niceness & Oh Hellos, 3/16 & 3/17

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation presents Niceness in concert on Friday, March 16 at the Sheridan Opera House. Tickets are $15 GA floor; $25 reserved seats in the balcony. On Saturday, March 17, the Oh Hellos perform. Tickets are $25 GA; $35 reserved seating in the balcony. (A $4 ticketing fee applies at all sales outlets.) Tickets and information are here or call 970.728.6363 x5. Both shows begins at 9 p.m.; doors at 8 p.m.

The Telluride reggae group Niceness is rooted in the traditional sounds of island reggae, seamlessly integrating elements of soul, funk, latin and hip-hop while staying true to their authentic reggae vibes.

Their lyrics embody a conscious message rarely found in this day and age, centrally focused on love, personal responsibility, interdependence and sustainability.

With a strong foundation of musicians –Thomas Mann on bass, Michael S. Gomberg on drums, David K. Christeson on the keys, Dustin James Wilson on guitar, Jonathan Barfield on percussion, Jeff Gutierrez on tenor sax, Sam Kelly on alto sax and Christopher Ross on trumpet – the musical sense and rhythm of Niceness is solid allowing for the vocal melodies of Koral Delatierra to sweep fans away into the niceness that is abounding all around us.

The Oh Hellos is an indie folk rock group that began in a cluttered bedroom, where siblings Maggie and Tyler Heath, born and raised in southern Texas, recorded their self-titled EP in 2011.

In the fall of 2012, the duo released their debut full-length record, Through the Deep, Dark Valley, an album full of regret and redemption, which they wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered themselves.

When the time came in early 2013 to bring the music to the stage, the Heaths reached out to friends new and old and gathered together an ensemble of touring musicians the size of a circus, tumblers and all.

Their 2015 full-length album, Dear Wormwood – a collection of songs inspired in part by C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” Patrick Rothfuss’ “The Name of the Wind,” mythology, folklore, and apocalyptic literature — tells the story of a protagonist trapped in an abusive relationship through a series of letters written to the antagonist. The release is at times delicate, intimate, affectionate; and at others, soaring and towering and joyfully explosive.

Notos, the first installment in an ongoing series, is named for the ancient Greco-Roman god of the south wind, who brought storms in the summer. Musically, the record draws from the siblings’ memories of summers spent exploring the Pacific Northwest with their grandparents, as well as their experiences with the frequent threat of hurricanes as they grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. Thematically, it considers the question “Where did our ideas come from?”

Notos recounts a time when the duo weren’t even aware there was a question to ask, and reflects on the backfire effect we experience when confronted with new information for the first time.

Oh Hellos’ influences range from Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens to The Middle East and the Muppets, bending and blending styles and genres into a unique mixture of eclectic folk rock.

The night will kick off with opening support Lowland Hum.

Lowland Hum is wife-and-husband team Lauren and Daniel Goans. Together they invite listeners to share in the space of vulnerable intimacy they have formed over years of steady collaboration. In the live setting, the duo offers an immersive experience of thoughtful songcraft interspersed with audience interaction and extemporaneous songs about the day’s happenings. Their recordings take listeners on a journey through relatable, imagistic poetry exploring themes of memory, longing, confession and identity, and drawing attention to often unnoticed resonances of the everyday.

Daniel and Lauren are a prolific, two-person creative factory basing their operation in Charlottesville, Virginia. They write, arrange and produce all of their own music, and have honed a cohesive design aesthetic to match the hushed simplicity of their sound.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation, CCAASE and Just For Kids.