Mike Dumovich, a singer and songwriter from Vashon whose work has long been championed by critics and well-known counterparts in Pacific Northwest music, will share his latest album, “Real Shoring,” at a record release show at 8 p.m. Friday, May 24, at Snapdragon’s Black Cat Cabaret.
Doors to the show open at 7 p.m.
Dumovich’s collaborators on the new album — Hunter Lea, a songwriter, musician, and the Grammy-nominated record producer, curator, and co-producer of Light in the Attic Records, and Anne Marie Ruljancich, a violist who played in The Walkabouts, Jesse Sykes and the Shins, will join him in his music set.
Musician and record producer Steve Fisk will open the show.
Fisk is a legend in the Northwest music scene, producing for groups like Screaming Trees, Beat Happening, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. In 2005, he co-wrote and produced the score for the award-winning Kurt Cobain documentary, “About a Son,” with Ben Gibbard. He has composed five immersive soundscapes for exhibits at MoPOP (Museum of Pop Culture).
In recent years, Fisk produced Teens of Denial, the first studio album for Matador recording artist, Car Seat Headrest, and mixed Ben Gibbard’s rerecording of Teenage Fan Club’s 1991 album, “Bandwagonesque.” In 2015, Fisk received The Stranger Genius Award in Music.
Dumovich’s show on May 24 will also boast the talents of Von Wildenhaus — a band that describes itself as an “apocalyptic avant-pop lounge act” and has conjured comparisons to the unpredictable and otherworldly artistic minds of filmmaker David Lynch, composers Marc Ribot and Luis Bacalov, and alternative rocker Jad Fair.
Writing about Von Wildenhaus in the online music publication, Magnet, critic Elliot Sharp defined the band’s music thusly: “From country twang to psych-rock whirls to Eastern modes and pondering tones, there’s a fluid, dreamlike quality to this bizarre book of tunes.”
Dumovich — known in the Seattle music scene as a “songwriter’s songwriter” — has been making music for over 30 years.
A blend of folk, indie, and psychedelic influences, his music is known for its sometimes dark and melancholy tone that reflects geography, relationships, and unflinching self-inquiry.
He has collaborated with many renowned producers and musicians, including Tucker Martine, Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, Karl Blau, Chris Ballew, Luke Bergman, and Laura Veirs. He has opened for Mark Lanegan, Jesse Sykes, and many others over the years playing in the Northwest. He has released five albums, the latest being “Real Shoring.”
“Real Shoring” is a collection of songs that chronicle his life events in that period: losing his mother, raising stepsons, and coping with the pandemic.
Dumovich, throughout his career, has had a way of stopping critics in their tracks.
“Dumovich sings pensive songs, delivering them in a matter-of-fact voice and radiant guitar plucking that can put you in a trance,” said Brian Barr, in the Seattle Weekly. “[He] is an idiosyncratic character whose music and personality cannot be neatly boxed up which is to say, he’s a true artist in a music scene full of phonies.”
Band in Seattle, a music and TV web series offering intimate concert experiences, has also given high praise to Dumovich.
“Whatever rules exist in the music world, Mike threw out the ones that didn’t work for him long ago,” according to the web series. “Mike creates original soulful tunes that take the listener to uncharted territory. Mike’s music and lyrics have depth and relevance that can be experienced on many levels.”
There is a $15 cover charge for the show on May 24.
Correction: This story twice incorrectly referred to Mike Dumovich’s concert as taking place on March 24. It happens on May 24, as correctly stated at the top of the story. We regret the error.
