Olivia Wendel cuts deep at Deep Cuts on Tuesday, 29 August 2023.

Lake Saint Daniel and Jesus The Dinosaur sandwich the triple stack bill.

Deep Cuts! The Medford venue lives along the Mystic River, having opened in early 2023 to glowing reviews.

What’s the fuss? Music, food, drink, a few pinball machines that get strategically shut down during each set and powered back up between them.

What kind of food and drink? Sandwiches, snacks, local craft and housemade brews, wine, spunky cocktails, and some non-booze options.

What kind of music? All sorts, local and touring acts.

It’s a fun hang. At night they hit the dimmer switch and let the arcade and pinball lighting glow against the brick backdrop. The place is full of tongue-in-cheek, Deep Cuts-branded iconography, reproduced with the borrowed aesthetics of more familiar logos. Deep Cuts logo a la Budweiser. A la Coors. A la White Claw. It’s a copyleft, Adbusted sense of humor.

Shout out to the “steady hand” game machine. The Challenger. You know, like the old Operation game, except you trace an iron ring around a spindly metal track, trying not to complete the circuit.

Does that thing turn on?

Lake Saint Daniel

Lake Saint Daniel describes its personnel as “Daniel Radin and Friends.” Tuesday night offered Radin plus one to make a pair of acoustic strummers. Usually the band performs as a larger ensemble, he explained, but they were rolling out some new songs and not everyone in the Extended Radin Universe had learned them yet.

What you lose in expansive sound (would have loved to hear the pedal steel playing tunes from 2020’s Good Things) with the smaller set up, you gain in a more intimate mood. Just two strummers and a darkened room full of people snacking on Detroit-style pizza and Topo Chico-infused cocktails.

In fact, the entire three artist bill ping ponged within the quiet confines of coffeehouse decibels. It was that sort of night. Hushed attentions, rain threatening, pinball machines powered down every set, James Taylor vibes.

Olivia Wendel

It sounds like Olivia Wendel has a new album coming. The artist reported that it was recorded in Toronto, and we might have heard a few new songs being put through their paces on Tuesday night.

With acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder, she performed a solo set that dug deep into the singer-songwriter’s predilection for folk music narrative. Introspective, extrospective, spectrospective. Shades of Wallace Field.

Extra points for the guest duet cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One”.

Jesus The Dinosaur

Jesus The Dinosaur rolled out a five-deep squad of medium tempo Americana with dream pop touches. Two electrics, one acoustic, and a bass lent the Boston-based band rich guitar textures. Too many amps involved to maintain the coffee house vibes, but the music still operated within the folk vernacular, favoring natural timbres over all-you-can-eat FX buffets.

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