Paul Michell at Bryant Lake Bowl

Special guest: Dave Sandersfeld

November 2, 2016

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Review and photo's by: Patrick Dunn

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It was fun to see the excited look on Paul Michell’s face as he greeted fans who came out to the Bryant Lake Bowl, November 2nd for his “Break the Fall” CD release show. Although currently based in New York, he has plenty of time invested in the Twin Cities music scene where he released 2 previous EPs. Michell gave a shout out to album Producer, Owen Sartori who was in attendance, thanking him for “kicking ass”.

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The new album’s upbeat first track “Fire” seemed a logical starting point for the show and produced one of my favorite images from the evening as Michell expressed his enthusiasm with some energetic hand clapping. I was pleased to see he elected to use live musicians to tackle the task of reproducing the new materials larger sound and Alexander Young (drums) and Benjamin James Kelly (bass) were fantastic in accomplishing that. Michell did mix in some older material that he performed solo on piano and continued with that same format for new song “Don’t Look Back”, which was a standout.

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He took a trip down memory lane, inviting past collaborator Stacy Lee on stage for their duet “Carry Me Over” and a cover of the Civil War’s “Poison and Wine”. A heartfelt performance of “Counting Sand” marked another high point in the ballad heavy set where Michell seems to feel most comfortable. He succeeded in effectively book-ending the performance with “Walk Through the Noise” that managed to match the same infectious energy created at the start.

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There was still one great moment ahead as the unplanned encore of James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes” allowed Michell to exercise his artistry by cleverly inserting the repeating phrase “tears stream down your face …” from Coldplay’s “Fix You” for a memorable finish to this worthwhile event. For continued support of this developing artist, follow him here on Facebook.