One Australian musician made a Lethbridge music venue his home for the night playing to a small room packed with attentive fans.
Originally from a small town in New South Wales, Kim Churchill left after high school to pursue a career in music and hasn’t looked back.
Churchill sat barefoot, surrounded by instruments as he performed to a nearly sold-out crowd at the Geomatic Attic.
He began playing music when he was five and when he was old enough, he bought a camper van and traveled to farmer’s markets to perform.
He eventually began going to festivals and traveling the world to play music.
Churchill says he loves traveling to Canada, he has been to Lethbridge before, this was the second time visiting.
“It’s part of who I am, now. The first time I came here was when I was 19 and you do so much figuring out who you are from that 18 to 26 – I guess you do it your entire life but – I feel like that’s quite an important transitional time into adulthood, that was, for me, peppered with lots of trips to Canada.” Churchill said,” I was going to Europe and the United States as well, but Canada really began to feel like a home.”
A guitar in his hands, harmonica around his neck, chimes at his side, tambourine and bass at his feet, a complicated set up for one man. He said it was his busking set up.
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Churchill played songs from his most recent album – Weight Falls – and some of his favourites from his other six albums.
He sang and played his instruments flawlessly and put all of his talents on display.
To add to the mood of the show, a series of lightbulbs were placed around the stage that would turn off and on, dim and brighten along with the songs.
The small, intimate venue had people nodding their heads, tapping their toes and some mouthing along with the songs during the performance.
The small space makes for a feeling of closeness between the performers and the audience.
Between songs, he made jokes and told stories about some of his music.
There’s a wide variety of themes Churchill visits in his music: he has written two songs about washing dishes and one about the short-lived friendship between his grandma and another hospital patient before they both died.
The performance ended with an encore, despite Churchill joking that he didn’t like doing them.
Cassidy Taekema has been a fan of Churchill’s work since seeing him perform in Calgary.
“I feel like I’m almost on stage with him. He’s so genuine and real and he’s so much fun to listen to. You just feel his music, it’s incredible to hear his voice and his talent.”
Taekema went with a friend who has also seen Churchill’s performances before and has been a fan since 2010.
Kim Churchill is currently on tour across Canada and he’s working on a series of EP albums; a record that has more songs than a singl and not enough to be considered a full album.
The first of the collection of EP’s is set to be released in January.
Two of the records have been recorded so far, one with an artist in Berlin and another was with an artist in Sidney, BC.
“I’d rather divvy it up another way. To me it doesn’t matter, I just write lots and lots of songs. I’ll package them together however I feel is fun and interesting.” Churchill said, “What I’ve decided to do instead is four EP’s that go together. Each EP has five or six songs on it and eventually it’ll be 24 songs that go together. Each one is recorded in a different part of the world, in an area that’s been special in my life.”
Each set of songs will be produced in collaboration with other musicians and will reflect their individual style along with Churchill’s.
Churchill was the first act of a busy week for the Geomatic Attic: featuring him, The Birds of Chicago on Tuesday, and Ruben and the Dark on Saturday.
