You may know Michael Cormier-O’Leary from a number of different projects the musician has embarked upon over the past decade or so, whether it’s the nominally apt alt-country collective Friendship, his work with the Philadelphia power-pop ground 2nd Grade, the record label he co-runs and releases solo recordings through—or, most ambitiously of all, stuffing 13 musicians and their instruments on the tight stages of venues like his hometown’s PhilaMOCA or Brooklyn’s The Owl.
Such was the case recently when he brought an expanded version of his Hour decet (I’ll save you the google search—that’s 10 members) on a brief tour to celebrate the release of their latest album, Ease the Work. While the work wasn’t necessarily eased by schlepping all that gear across state lines, the effort was more than worth it to hear the new record’s chamber-ambient compositions come fully to life. “The weekend was a total blast,” notes Cormier-O’Leary as he shouts out the band’s opening acts. “Both shows featured direct support by More Eaze, whose performances were inspiring with their focus and textural nuance. Opening the night in Philly was the one-of-a-kind chamber-glitch ensemble Null. In New York, it was a thrilling duo of Ryan El Solh (from the band Scree) and Justin Felton (who plays with L’Rain).”
As the band prepares for another set of shows next week with dates in Upstate New York and New England, catch a glimpse of the mid-April performances below as outlined by Cormier-O’Leary—including footage of the band performing Patsy Kline’s “I Fall to Pieces” filmed by Michael’s friend and Friendhship bandmate Dan Wriggins. You can find Hour’s upcoming tour dates here.
We all managed to fit in my basement to rehearse the night before our first show. Many a seltzer was consumed. My wife Meg made a delicious dinner for everyone and capped the night with homemade salted caramel ice cream and brownies.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
Lucas Knapp arriving at PhilaMOCA. He did FOH while simultaneously operating a small synth rig from the soundboard.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
Getting set up on the PhilaMOCA stage—thank goodness we all fit.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
PhilaMOCA has a screen for project stuffing behind the stage. Thanks to the suggestion of local filmmaker Matt Ober, we screened the 1996 documentary The Old Man in the Cottage by Nina Hedenius.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
I didn’t really take many photos in Philly, can’t imagine why. It’s not like I had anything else to think about! Anywho, we hopped in Dan Wriggins’ van the next day and went to New York City, where we picked up my Dear Life Records partner Frank Meadows, who is seen here chatting with Erika Nininger (piano).
Abi Reimold (electric guitar) exiting the van.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
Matt Fox (viola) exiting the van.
Jason Calhoun (synths) exiting the van.
photo by Meghan Cormier-O’Leary
Peter Gill (bass) and me (guitar/compositions) just doing our thing.
photo by Wolf Van Elfmand
Soundchecking at The Owl in Brooklyn. It was a much smaller space than PhilaMOCA, but we managed to all squish in and still leave room for an audience. Pictured prominently are Evan McGonagill (cello), Em Downing (violin), Keith Nelson (bass clarinet/clarinet), and Addie Strei (clarinet/flute).
photo by Wolf Van Elfmand
Setting up the merch table. I’m famous for how much merch I sell, it’s crazy.
Frank and Addie: the two newest additions to Hour, but they already add so much. They’ll both be with the group on the next few tours.
photo by Michael Cormier-O’Leary
Erika Nininger enters her truest form.
photo by Meghan Cormier-O’Leary
More soundchecking at The Owl (blurry because we were all moving so fast).
photo by Wolf Van Elfmand
A shot from the show. We rocked!
photo by Wolf Van Elfmand
Another shot from the show. Nearly everyone is in the picture—a rare feat (sorry, Matt).
photo by Meghan Cormier-O’Leary
Group photo at the end of the NYC show. Thirteen people total. It sounds excessive, but there’s a lot of power in playing this music with so many people. I think the only person I haven’t individually shouted out is Peter McLaughlin (drums). If you see music in Maine, it’s probably because of him.
photo by Meghan Cormier-O’Leary
Right after that first group photo, our souls left our bodies. Thankfully, that moment was captured here.
I wanted to include this video we were sent of us performing “I Fall to Pieces” by Patsy Cline to close out night one. The singer is Jacob Augustine, a legendary singer/songwriter from Maine who recently moved to Philly. His voice is one-of-a-kind, and it was an honor to perform this song with him.
