Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest talk to the cameras about their win at EMP’s second Sound Off semifinal.

This past Saturday night I got to see the second semifinal for EMP‘s Sound Off competition. I went because I really enjoy John Van Deusen‘s music but wasn’t expecting too much from the other two groups. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the ability and talent of all three bands. The first was a solo act by Marquetta Miller, a singer/songwriter from Alaska. She had a very lovely voice and played the guitar quite well. I felt a little bad for her because it seemed she was better suited for a coffee house atmosphere as opposed to the rock band scene, but regardless she did quite well. The other group that played was Dynamik, a rock band with a great sound. These guys were quite passionate about their music and that definitely came across on stage. That being said, I am quite pleased to say that John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest will be heading to the Sound Off finals on February 25th on the EMP main stage! John’s show was, simply put, amazing. They were definitely in the groove and I think the audience and the judges could feel that. I think the two things that really clinched their victory was technical ability and especially creativity. All the guys in the group are amazingly skilled especially that of John (who seems to be the creative force behind the group). The creativity and variety of the songs, I think, also led to a sure victory. While the other two groups were quite talented, their songs, for the most part, weren’t extremely different from one to the next, at time almost blurring together. The Lonely Forest has a pretty broad range of styles, lyrics, and sound making them fun and pleasing to listen to. I am bummed that I will not be able to see their performance on the 25th (as I will be out of town), but I am pretty confident that they will take the champtionship and, as part of that win, perform at Bumbershoot in early September. I was also able to pick up The Lonely Forest’s new self-titled EP (look for a review of that in the next week or two), which seems to be pretty good (although I am still looking forward to a full length CD!).

This was a great night of music and I highly recommend seeing the final semifinal (February 18th) as well as the final. You should also check out all three artists from this weekend as you will, no doubt, be pleasantly surprised! Visit: John Van Duesen - webpage - myspace. Marquetta Miller - webpage - myspace. Dynamik - webpage - myspace.

For some pictures (and a few vid clips, images are clickable for larger versions), see below the “fold”.

Cheers,
-Matt Jones

Marquetta Miller

Other Images: #1 - #2 - #3

Dynamik

Other Images: #1 - #2

John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest

John Van Deusen

Braydn

Carl

Jonny

Other Images: The Lonely Forest #1 - John and Braydn - The Lonely Forest #2 - John on Keys #1 - Jonny on Guitar - Braydn on Percussion - John and Jonny rockin’ - Carl on Bass - The Lonely Forest #3 - The Lonely Forest #4 - John on Acoustic - John Dancin’ - The Lonely Forest #5 - The Lonely Forest #6 - John on Keys #2 - Jonny making his guitar do cool things - The Lonely Forest #7 - John on Solo Keys - John on Keys #3 - John on Keys #4 - John on Keys #5 - The Lonely Forest #8 - John… dancing? - Jonny on Flute - Jonny and Carl left alone- The Lonely Forest being interviewed after the win #1- The Lonely Forest being interviewed after the win #2

Some video clips (NOTE: VERY LARGE FILES): Father (Mov file, 35.9 MB) - Washington Park (Mov file, 54.4 MB) - Apology part I (Avi file, 159 MB) - Apology part II (Mov file, 23 MB) - The announcement of the win (Mov file, 20 MB)