The campus community is invited to a screening of the folk duo Ordinary Elephant's award-winning documentary "Across the Quiet," plus a Q&A with the musicians, from 12:40 to 1:35 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, in the Hewitt Hall screening room.
Sponsored by the university's Music Department and community partners the Oswego Music Hall, this film captures the artistic evolution of the married duo Crystal Hariu-Damore and Pete Damore through recording and releasing an album along with producer Dirk Powell. With powerful moments of introspection, particularly Crystal's candid reflections on anxiety, the documentary examines what it means for these artists to explore their relationship and their music through the lens of their unconventional creative path.
Crystal and Pete Damore from Ordinary Elephant will be present to answer questions and to discuss their filmmaking process, their creative works and the challenges of touring singer songwriters. The event is free to attend and open to the public.
The award-winning duo has spent the better part of the last decade on a never-ending tour that’s earned widespread critical acclaim and made fans of luminaries like Tom Paxton and Mary Gauthier. In 2017, the pair took home the International Folk Music Award for Artist of the Year on the strength of their breakout album, "Before I Go," and two years later, they returned with the similarly lauded "Honest," which the Associated Press hailed as “one of the best Americana albums of the year.”
Their most recent self-titled album was nominated for 2024 IFMA Album of the Year by Folk Alliance International.
The band considers their new stripped-down collection the purest distillation of their sound yet, showcasing the power of the couple’s harmonies and intricate fretwork. Conceived as timeless tunes, the songs are rooted in rich, character-driven storytelling, and with the duo's performances aiming to beome similarly transportive, fueled by delicately intertwined banjo, guitar and octave mandolin.
Though the songs were born out of a period of deep uncertainty, the record itself is a work of profound self-assurance, delivered by a duo whose personal and professional lives embody the limitless possibility of honest, organic collaboration. The duo said the new record offers more than just a husband and wife but the sound of sincerity and commitment, of patience and gratitude, of learning to let go of expectation and revel in the simple beauty of the moment.
The appearance precedes Ordinary Elephant's show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Oswego Music Hall in the Roy C. McCrobie Building, 41 Lake St. in Oswego. For more information on tickets to that show, visit the Oswego Music Hall website.