Creating an artistic experience using Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, Peter Gabriel’s Us, and Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball as end points is a bold route of action – some would say unreachable – but if you’re not shooting for the stars then what’s the point, right? Well, Mike Mangione has reached that end point with Tenebrae. The album was released via the interweb in late 2007 to enthusiastic reviews across the country including New York Magazine’s pick of the week, while being billed as “a definite must have for any fan of folk and Indie music genres” by Indiemusicstop, and gracing the cover of Milwaukee’s M Magazine. Mangione’s music has also been tapped by MTV, the Oxygen Network, and the Lifetime Network for use in their television soundtracks (although MTV’s The Hills is destructive in its own way, a Mangione lyric and strum would revive any affluent boy’s broken heart). “I have come to appreciate the vitality of live performance, the holistic vibe that it yields,” Mangione said. “I wanted my new album to reflect that reality. I didn’t just want an assortment of songs thrown together on a CD. I wanted consistency and tone, I wanted thematic unity, I wanted an album in the classic sense of the word.” Venturing with this traditional outlook and the capacity to renew and slant that outlook, Mangione may join the likes of his musical vanguards creating a new breed of organic folk expression.

Bookhouse + Mike Mangione + The Shorn • Friday, Aug. 22 • House of Rock • 10pm •  $5 • 838-0158