Suitcase Junket Live at the Lizard Lounge WSG Ciarra Fragale

$25 adv/$30 door

Doors 8

For two intimate and wide-ranging nights at the Lizard Lounge, The Suitcase Junket [solo artist Matt Lorenz] will be trying out new songs in anticipation of going into the recording studio later this fall. Love to have you there to be part of the process. There’ll be plenty of songs from the six previous albums as well, including writing from Lorenz’ last album, The End is New from Renew Records/BMG. Two different nights. Come for one or both.
The Suitcase Junket developed in the tension between the grand and the solitary. Grand in imagery, sound, and staging. Solitary in thrift and self-reliance. NPR calls Matt Lorenz a "master of musical imagination." What instruments he requires, Lorenz builds from scratch and salvage. What parts five players would perform, he performs alone. The spectacle of his one-man set bears comparison to legends of showmanship, brilliance, madness, and invention. While audiences are captivated by that solitary form and the show itself, Lorenz, who homesteads in Western Massachusetts, is most serious about the songs. Over the course of six full-length releases, the latest from Renew Records at BMG, he has written a world into existence, crowded with characters, narratives, voices, imagery, sounds as wide and varied as mountain throat singers and roadhouse juke boxes, plus newsreels of the planet's destruction and salvage. More songs are coming.

“A living, breathing, throat-singing, road-tested, avant-garde, one-man-band who is in a state of perpetual motion… gutsy, fuzzed-out, groove-laden psych rock.” – National Public Radio
"Now this is the shit I'm talking about, Jack. The Suitcase Junket is a lo-fi, low-tuned, low-down blast of end-times folk blues. It's crude; it's magnificent. With a stage set-up that resembles a junkyard foley stage or Fred Sanford's living room, The Suitcase Junket — one man band leader Matt Lorenz — incants and intones like a cross between Hound Dog Taylor and a Tuvan throat singer who has swallowed a bird. Take the singer-songwriter idiom, give it a low grade fever and a guitar and this is what you get. Captivating, mesmerizing, and gone ... real gone." – Rochester City Newspaper
“Jaw-dropping... It’s the biggest sound I’ve ever heard come from a solo performer. Matt is definitely his own thing and it is something. The live experience is pretty, darn unforgettable.” — Beale Street Caravan
"Bluesy guitar riffs, tenacious melodies and a singing voice both weathered and nimble. You don’t need to witness his physics-defying performance to be captivated; the music stands on its own... astonishing." – WBUR Boston

Suitcase Junket

Ranging from heartbreak pop to cinematic indie rock, Ciarra Fragale’s music has been described as "atmospheric and aspirational, precisely the sort of emotive sensibility we are collectively yearning for." Known for her soaring vocals and live looping arrangements, the Hudson Valley-native and Western MA-based musician often draws comparisons to artists like Kate Bush, Beach Fossils, and The Japanese House. More info about her new album Get What You Want at ciarrafragale.com.

Event Venue

Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, United States