I have spent hours, days, sometimes weeks tirelessly searching the internet in hopes that I would stumble across sound that excites me. It’s frustrating, but on the occasion that I do, stumble, across a band that intrigues my ears I am elated to the point where the hours, days and weeks vanish into hindsight and all of the time spent is forgotten in an instant.

Outside of the internet, where I spend most of my time, I also find it very rare that I stumble upon music that draws me in. That’s what makes Ugly Purple Sweater so special. It was the 4th of July and I was hanging out on Wallingford Ave in Seattle. Across the street a band started playing. Already having had a beer, or two, or…Ok five beers! I STUMBLED across the street to catch some of their music. As my ears started to tune in I noticed the ethereal music they were creating was starting to formulate into something; holy shit, that something was Voodoo Child and it was being played on the cello. At that point I was cursing that I didn’t have my digital camera handy to capture the performance. After Voodoo Child the band performed originals until the fireworks started popping off. The way that they performed put the audience at ease and evoked an immediate response. As can be seen by the images below, Ugly Purple Sweater had the audience literally dancing in the streets of Wallingford. I made a point to look this band up when I got home. Sure enough their recordings were equally as good as their live performance. I was hooked and knew I needed to write about them.

Ugly Purple Sweater resides in Washington D.C. The band just wrapped up a Pacific Northwest tour where they played with cellist virtuoso Joshua Stacy. The band itself is made up of Sam McCormally and Rachel Lord. They currently have an album out titled: “You Are Alone But You Are Not Alone”. You can listen to the entire album here FOR FREE (I highly suggest you do so). This is an album you can listen to all the way through. I listened to the album on repeat today and I heard everything from: The Smiths to The Cairo Gang. This is fun, social music.

(Photos by Britta Lisa Gess and Jonathan Larson)

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