#pitchforkfestival

[rad-review-of-gigs]

Joanna Sternberg

St. Matthias Church, Stoke Newington Pitchfork Music Festival, 10/11/2023

Joanna Sternberg prefers to make music alone, tour alone and gets through a performance by not  looking at the audience. One of their songs charts the perils of lugging all their instruments around the New York subway. Yet they connect deeply with their audience through a lack of pretension, striking, often hymnal melodies and spades of charm. Songs are frequently paused for amusing asides and sometimes re-started. 

Sternberg belongs to a genre, sometimes unhelpfully coined as outsider music. They are very much in the tradition of Daniel Johnston, another whose music brims with complete authenticity. Like him Sternberg takes us to some dark places in their life, but does it with wit and uplifting, deeply humane tunes.  As the cliche goes, seamlessly touching a chord within all of us. In truth, they are really an insider. Sternberg lives in Manhattan Plaza, an inter-generational  residence and hangout for artists going back to Tennessee Williams and Richard Burton. Their grandmother was a famous cantor and actor in Yiddish theatre. Sternberg learned classical piano as a child, went to jazz school and can also turn their hand to double bass, gutiar, violin, drums, banjo and mandolin. 

This is their first time in London, at an intimate and near full St. Matthias’ Church. The set opens on acoustic guitar with the punchy riffs of the acerbic ‘People are Toys To You’ from this year’s Fat Possums release I’ve Got Me. Sternberg quips about their “moody, depressing little songs” as they segue to the album’s title track, then on to perhaps their most perfectly realised composition, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. Sternberg switches to piano for a sequence of songs with a gospel feel,  beginning with ‘Mountains High’ and including ‘Neighbours’, about living in a high rise building and not knowing whether to say hello to people. There is the Regina Spectoresque ‘Drifting In a Cloud,’ documenting the initial elation and subsequent nightmare of being prescribed Zoloft. 

The night ends with the poignant ‘Don’t You Ever’, from 2019’s first album Then I Try Some More, influenced by ragtime. This is about the fraught process of becoming comfortable in the body, not to mention addiction. Then on to a brand new song, ‘The Love I Give’, which Sternberg descibes as a “little passive,aggressive song”, that still feels imbued with a warm, generosity of spirit.

Musically, Joanna is their harshest critic. If not, that would mean “they really hate me!” she cries. As Matt Sweeney, producer on I’ve Got Me, said in Rolling Stone, though they depict intense struggles Sternberg’s songs ultimately feel like victories, fitting in this sense for a church, and delighting an audience whose whoops may echo in the cloisters for some time.  

Words: Adrian Cross; Pictures: Richard Gray

See the full photo gallery here.

[chicagomusicguide]

@tomberlinnnn at @pitchforkfest 📸 @romansobus #Pitchfork #pitchforkmusicfestival #pitchforkfestival #p4kfest #p4k #romansobus #singer #guitarist #livemusicphotography #liveconcert #livefestival #sunnyday #sunnyskies #Chicago #festivals #festivalseason #tomberlin (at Pitchfork Music Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTxGPU2L17W/?utm_medium=tumblr

[thetwilitetone]

🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂T O N I T E ‘ S T H E N I T E After The Isley Brothers @pitchforkfest After Ella Mai @Complexcon Big shout out to @ericwilliams58 @djrontrent @themrmckay And @thesilverroom block party in my hometown Hyde Park, northbound shuttle buses depart block party to Wicker Park at 730p, 9p and 10:30p Our party, I M P R O M P TU w/The Twilite Tone @dannystavern 1951 w. Dickens Ave. 9pm-3am join me turn the tables with all vinyl again through various musical genre, space and time. 💃🏾🕺🏾👯‍♀️👯‍♂️💃🏾🕺🏾🏃🏾‍♂️ [[[Dancing Room Only]]] Early Arrival Strongly Suggested! No Cover 21and Up Cash Only Bar Warning: For music heads, dancing feet, and moving bodies only! #theClearing // #Chicagoresidency #theclearingartistinresidencychicago / #Birthplace #birthright #happybirthdayTT #happybirthdayTheTwiliteTone #happybirthdayTone #allvinyl #transgenre #transgenreexpress #chicago #music #dancing #moving #backforthefirsttime #TheTwiliteTone #complexconchicago #pitchforkfestival #silverroomblockparty (at Danny's Bar - Wicker Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ju7ZOHDTO/?igshid=1sihovgxchrld

[chiokedmachi]

#PitchforkFestival’s #Sunday #Lineup Was a #ChicagoParty - @VICE https://apple.news/Af1YfUxYvQRm28Dg31PPWVg (at Pitchfork Music Festival)

[exhaustedwriter]

Day one at Pitchfork was a success! Priests absolutely blew me away! Be sure to head over to @thirdcoastreview to read reviews of the day by @c.s.smith and myself as well as plenty more shots! #priests #pitchforkfestival #pitchforkfest #unionpark #Chicago #pitchforkmusicfestival #p4k #thirdcoastreview #thirdcoastlife #concertphotography

[soulphonetics]

@Regrann from @caswelljames - So happy to be a part of this project this weekend #caswelljames #pitchfork #pitchforkfestival #chicago #saintheron #salonge #blkhaus - #regrann (at Pitchfork Music Festival)

[rebelliousmagazine]

"With three raw, romantic studio albums and a previous #Pitchfork performance under her belt, #AngelOlsen was a bit of a legend coming into Union Park, however she still managed to pull in countless new fans with her evocative Saturday evening set. Her stirring songs – that seep into your soul and stay there – perfectly warmed things up for hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest."⠀ ⠀ Read more of @laurie.fane's #p4k Rebellious recap at RebelliousMagazine-dot-com⠀ ⠀ #pitchforkfestival #pitchfork2017 #chicago #livemusic #livemusicphotography #music #musicphotography #concert #concertphotography #festivalphotography #festivalseason #chicago #rebellious #rebelliousmagazine (at Pitchfork Music Festival)

[hipchicago]

#OFWGKTA at #PitchforkFestival 6 years ago

[level2b2b]

A Tribe Called Quest was AMAZING!!! #pitchforkfestival #ATCQ #RIPPhifedog #chicago #aboutlastnight (at Chicago, Illinois)

[thesonicfuzz]

Jeansy rocking the shades. #arabstrap #pitchforkfestival

[instapicsil2]

Just out here horsin' around with @grapetoothband at @pitchforkfest! Don't forget to come to the aftershow with @lala_band__ tonight... Music starts at 10pm! #grapetooth #p4kfest #pitchforkfestival https://ift.tt/2YeXJqP

[instapicsil1]

The focus at #pitchforkfestival was on all the artists who performed by some of our photographers went off-stage. @cabrini_greenie captured the unsung workers that make Pitchfork tick and @zakkiyyah.najeebah focused on black women's increased presence at the fest. For much more, visit our blog at ChicagoReader.com #p4kfest http://ift.tt/2u5mqon

[chicagomusicguide]

@divinonino - @pitchforkfest 📸 @romansobus #Pitchfork #pitchforkfestival #pitchforkmusicfestival #p4k #p4kfest #romansobus #divinoniño #liveconcert #livephotography #livemusicphotography #singer #sunnyday #Chicago #chicagofestivals (at Pitchfork Music Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTurl0GLQnb/?utm_medium=tumblr

[thetwilitetone]

🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂Happy Birthday, Welcome Home and keep on Movin’ Forward Hey Y’all I’m geeked about all that’s going on in ChicaGo this weekend In addition, this Saturday 7.20//tomorrow it’s my Birthday and Birthplace celebration, activating my Chicago residency @Dannys 1951 w. Dickens Ave. 9pm-3am I M P R O M P T U w//The Twilite Tone I’m proud to claim and continue the legacy of cultivating Chicago music art culture, dance, style, talk, slang, and identity from an authentic and deliberate space ChicaGO Forward this saturday with @complexcon @pitchforkfestival @thesilverroom block party and afterwards join me turn the tables with all vinyl again through various musical genre, space and time. 💃🏾🕺🏾👯‍♀️👯‍♂️💃🏾🕺🏾🏃🏾‍♂️ [[[Dancing Room Only]]] at the legendary staple in Chicago nitelife Early Arrival Strongly Suggested! No Cover 21and Up Cash Only Bar Warning: For music heads, dancing feet, and moving bodies only! #theClearing // #Chicagoresidency #theclearingartistinresidencychicago / #Birthplace #birthright #happybirthdayTT #happybirthdayTheTwiliteTone #happybirthdayTone #allvinyl #transgenre #transgenreexpress #chicago #music #dancing #moving #backforthefirsttime #TheTwiliteTone #complexconchicago #pitchforkfestival #silverroomblockparty (at Danny's Bar - Wicker Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0HKEgun8OT/?igshid=1njsmc4lcw63j

[instapicsil3]

The focus at #pitchforkfestival was on all the artists who performed by some of our photographers went off-stage. @cabrini_greenie captured the unsung workers that make Pitchfork tick and @zakkiyyah.najeebah focused on black women's increased presence at the fest. For much more, visit our blog at ChicagoReader.com #p4kfest http://ift.tt/2u5mqon

[exhaustedwriter]

I'm not sure how Colin Stetson is able to play the sax the way he does, but I was floored. Sincerely mesmerized for this performance. Read my full review over at @thirdcoastreview #colinstetson #pitchforkfestival #music #musicphotography #pitchforkfest #unionpark #Chicago #festival #pitchforkmusicfestival #p4k #thirdcoastreview #thirdcoastlife #concertphotography #festivalphotography (at Pitchfork Music Festival)