Intimate crowd swoons over Bucolic’s set at The Barbary

Wednesday night, Pitman, New Jersey’s favorite instrumentalist Bucolic headlined a cozy show at The Barbary, and, though the crowd was made up of mostly familiar faces, none of them are tired of hearing those swirling tracks from Ropes Wing and Glow Worm. I always love talking with Bucolic’s Seth Carpenter before he performs, because he’s always in this state of pure calm, which then easily translates to his onstage persona. We chatted about his next hiking adventure and I complimented him on repping Philly metal band Parius with his t-shirt.

Opening sets by Philly natives Rentboy and a Virginia up-and-comer RAWLS were equally strong. With sounds that are both edgy and dignified, tight and composed, both acts left me wanting more. RAWLS especially, considering this is a brand new project and Philadelphia’s show was only their second performance ever, I was totally in awe.

Bucolic opened his set with an easy favorite from Rope’s Wing, “Ice Bugs,” followed by the ultimate crowd-pleaser, “Daisy.” Though the crowd was small, you better believe I was singing along the whole time, totally unashamed of whether I could be heard or not. Bucolic also threw in some unfamiliar demo tracks which blended in with the rest of his set seamlessly, and the swirling sounds of the guitar and compressed vocals made me feel right at home. Recent Key favorite “Unconscious Color” was also a part of the set, of course, and though it was only his second time playing the song live, it was absolutely perfect.

Bucolic isn’t one to miss, and he’s steadily building a name for himself in our thriving community. He’s playing the Grape Room in Manayunk on June 14th, and next Friday you can catch at PhilaMOCA with brother Luke Carpenter’s band, Apollo.