The indefatigable pianist best known for his tenure with THE LUMINEERS, Stelth performs solo on Révéler's baby grand piano - alongside incandescent songwriter Al Olender.

Stelth Ulvang never slows down. In his fifteen years as the pianist for the anthemic folk band, The Lumineers, he simply keeps playing music, even when they stop. He records songs in new studios when the band arrives early in cities. He performs at house shows on off nights and at dive bars on Mondays. After a Lumineers show in an arena, he hops into a cab to join another set across town. Despite this whirlwind, he manages to hold a third band together, writing and recording with the desert surf outfit, Heavy Gus.

And it’s not that he’s ungrateful or unhappy with the prominence of his Lumineers tenure, he just yearns for vulnerability, closeness, weirdness, instinctiveness, and realness. And it was this that drew him to The Deslondes Studio and a beautiful band in New Orleans. Through Sam Doores (The Deslondes) he was connected with Jon Atkinson, a New Orleans engineer who has multiple vans full of vintage, nearing-antique, recording gear. Stelth Ulvang wanted to make a record with all of the squeaks of a piano bench, with new notes and freshly learned tunes, and with the pops and hisses of humanness. He wanted to get back to recording live, through tape, with all the mess-ups at stake.

Busking on street corners kept him paid for five years, and you can see that draw to closeness from arenas to house shows. Like a goat in a tree, he will make his way over precarious obstacles to find human connection at even the largest venues. Now, Stelth Ulvang (this is his mom-given, real Norwegian name) is living in the high desert of Bishop, California, with hummingbirds and crows circling the little house on the edge of town. He continues to write, day in, day out, and when he tours he doesn’t skip a beat. He jumps back in vivacious and loud in the limelight, and maybe that’s the sweet secret to it all. The buoyancy between the theatrical and true, the fair and the obscene, a sweltering baseball stadium and a rain-soaked Louisiana levee.

For singer/songwriter Al Olender, facing her fear of the truth has been a cleansing, often cathartic process that’s led to the kind of revelations she had previously thought unobtainable. On her debut full-length album Easy Crier, the Upstate New York based artist asks: what happens if we vow to never tell a lie, ever again? Charting the daunting territories of staring your demons right in the face and prodding at the ugly parts of your reflection, Olender pieces together her most vulnerable moments to produce a celebratory and beautiful rumination on grief, and reminds us of the power that comes in really getting to know yourself.

The catalyst for this renewed outlook stems from the sudden loss of her older brother. As a huge supporter of Olender’s musical talents from the very beginning, he would often invite his friends over and encourage a then-teenage Olender to play her “angsty love songs” for them. “Everything that I do musically revolves around my brother,” she says. “It's like every single thing I do in my life – my brother is so much in the front of my mind.”

Olender recorded at The Church in Harlemville, NY, entrusting the skills of producer and engineer James Felice (Felice Brothers). Felice also lent his skills on keyboard, accordion and piano, with Jesske Hume (bass/synths), William Lawrence (drums/guitar), Ian Felice (guitar), and Alejandro Leon (bass) also contributing. The album’s sonic universe sees delicate keys dance alongside acoustic plucks, later welcoming brooding strings and lush, expansive harmonies. It’s these kinds of arrangements that perfectly capture the sonic personality of Easy Crier: it’s both tender and invigorating, soothing yet anthemic. Describing the arrangements as a “conversation with friends,” it’s a testament to what can happen when you surround yourself with those who totally, and willingly, understand your artistic vision.

With only 100 seats, shows at Révéler are intimate and immersive. A romantic venue with exquisite sound and dreamy vibes, Révéler offers a unique selection of cocktails, wines, beers, bubbles, and non-alcoholic beverages. Our kitchen delivers small plates crafted with care.

SHOW NOTES

LOCATION