Lavendula at Summervale!
Welcome to week four of Summervale! Join us for another week of fun, good company, delicious food and incredible music at the Intervale Center. We are proud to announce that Lavendula will be playing the Summervale stage this Thursday, July 28th!
Lavendula is comprised of three members, Johanna Rose on upright bass, Lilith on guitar, and Henri June on the banjo. Every member sings and writes songs, which allows them to incorporate all their styles and messages.
The trio started out busking in Montpelier on the weekends in 2021. They have since “branched out to share our melodies and incantations in venues throughout Vermont and beyond,” though you may still spot them “playing on the sidewalks of Montpelier on sunny days.” On the way to the band’s first-ever gig, “Henri’s car burst into flames, and it was there, next to the burning car and exploding tires, we named ourselves Lavendula.”
This is the band's first time playing at Summervale and they are so excited to come out and perform! Some highlights from Lavendula’s career include when folk artists Mama's Broke and Dani-Rae Clark came and played with them at Charlie-O's in Montpelier. “That was a huge honor and dream come true, and Mama's Broke put on the best original folk set I've ever seen.” Additionally, they played at the Alaskan Folk Festival in Henri’s hometown of Juneau earlier this spring. Henri hadn’t been home in eleven years and said, "I got to return in this grand way with my bandmates and share songs about where I’d been. My first love even came to a show - that was pretty cool.”
The trio spoke to the experience of being a femme-led band in a cis male-dominated music scene. “I am obsessed with supporting femmes and queers in the music world,” Lilith said. “My main advice is to go to shows, go to Spotify playlists, and find musicians you relate to, other femmes and queers. Ask them if they want to play music or book a show together. When it feels like you are not able to do music the way that people expect you to, trust yourself and know that it's not the only way.”
Henri’s advice for femmes looking to get into the folk music scene? “Art is part of a sort of universal mythology. And, with music, we talk about our lives, dreams, our sorrow and our history. I think music is for our authenticity...It sounds stupid and corny, but just try to keep doing it for your love of doing it.”
Lavendula has a sound that perfectly captures the genre of their music of both fiery, sweet, and tragic. Johanna defines their music as a “true collaboration. It incorporates all of our visions, so it casts a wide net of sound and experience and continues to evolve beyond a particular genre.” Lilith went on to say that they “all have a weakness for insanely gorgeous harmonies and we're all pretty angry. I think the duality between beauty and anger is probably our strongest dynamic. Another would be between the ease of "coming home" with music versus the thrill of pushing for exploration.”
Lavendula invites listeners to follow them on Spotify, purchase their content on Bandcamp, and come to their shows! They are also on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok (@lavendulamusic.)
“One last hope for the music scene,” Lilith concluded, “I hope that we can utilize music as a space for community, healing, and revolution across race, gender, nationality and background. All music we, the people, make is really folk music.”