Chris Cohen’s singing voice is warm and calming, but I didn’t know that at first, since he mostly kept quiet, playing bass and guitar in the gloriously sharp and explosive band Deerhoof. When he moved on to other things, his mellow singing began peeking out in projects like The Curtains, Cryptacize and finally his own alluring solo records, “Overgrown Path” and the just-out “As if Apart.”
Cohen’s melodic, smooth-cornered pop music is dreamy without being sleepy. Sometimes it’s kind of a homespun relation of Tame Impala — that rock band’s songs have a big extroverted pulse, but Cohen’s music is cozier and modest, as mesmerizing as the fire in the fireplace, or the wind chimes on the back porch. Catchy songs like “In a Fable” and “Yesterday’s On My Mind” share an energy with such ’60s pop groups as The Association and The Millennium, but Cohen’s unique sound is immediately recognizable.
A good example of his ability to create something special in a live setting is when his band The Curtains played the old Flywheel in Easthampton in 2007. Cohen and the group decided to ignore the stage and instead perform in the small entrance room, with no microphones or major amplification, standing alongside the snack bar and zine library. The audience squeezed in and sat on the carpeted floor while Cohen played an unplugged electric guitar and sang into the room, harmonizing with bandmates, or pulled a bodhran (a Celtic framed drum) off a nearby lamp, where it’d been acting as a shade of sorts, and tapped it with a Crayola marker that was lying around.
Cohen appears Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Brick House in Turners Falls, a great listening room that has plenty of chairs (no need to sit on the floor there), sharing a bill with Ruth Garbus (another uncommon singer/songwriter, who put out the great Joule EP in 2014), as well as Claire Cronin.
Composer Michael Dessen plays trombone and live electronics, and he and his electro-acoustic trio (which includes bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss) will perform Dessen’s newest piece, the concert-length “Somewhere In the Upstream” (dedicated to the late Yusef Lateef), at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke Friday at 7:30 p.m. It’s a “scorestream” work that includes composed sections and free improvisation, with the score displayed dynamically on screens for the performers to interpret. It’s the latest show in the Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares concert series.
Signature Sounds recording artists And the Kids celebrate the release of their new album, “Friends Share Lovers,” with a show at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls Saturday at 8 p.m. Vermont indie quartet The Snaz will start off the night.
Ukulele trio The Well Tempered Ukes plays “the great song hits of the last 500 years” — Renaissance compositions, traditional ballads, pieces by Ives and Holst, jigs, pop and art songs and more — at Gateway City Arts Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Local musicians come together for a Prince tribute at the Luthiers Co-Op in Easthampton Sunday at 8 p.m. The current “claimed” songs by participants-so-far include classics like “Kiss” and “When You Were Mine” and the deep cut “She’s Always In My Hair.” At press time there was still room on the bill, so if you’re interested in jumping on stage with your Prince tune, the show producers invite you to contact them through the Luthiers’ Facebook page.
KING is a modern R&B trio of twins Paris and Amber Strother and “musical sister” Anita Bias, who write their own material and produce their own recordings. “Dream-soul,” they sometimes call it, with songs full of rich harmonies and keyboards. Words like bliss, love, stargazing and shimmering come up a lot when critics try to explain their love of KING, which has collaborated with and gotten high praise from Prince, Questlove, Robert Glasper, Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar and many others. The group plays the Iron Horse in Northampton Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Kentucky vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Joan Shelley released her latest album, “Over and Even,” last fall, an understated and lovely record (featuring Will Oldham on harmonies) — fans of Winterpills and The Weather Station take note. She gets labeled as a folk artist, but there’s an intimate dimension to her songs that makes them stand out from the vast sea of acoustic-oriented stuff out there. Shelley plays The Parlor Room in Northampton Wednesday at 7 p.m. Sam Moss is the opening act.
Valerie June was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and her high lonesome voice, full-hearted delivery and minimal accompaniment bring to mind a combination of Dolly Parton and Joanna Newsom. She appears at the Iron Horse Thursday at 7 p.m.