Watch Kitchen Dwellers' Paste Session at Northlands

We had a packed weekend of music at the Northlands Festival in Swanzey, N.H., recording a wide range of sessions for Paste Studio’s “On the Road” series. Our home base was the Maple Barn, a cozy, rustic structure once used for maple syrup production. For our sessions, the barn was transformed into an ornate, eclectic space, complete with vintage syrup memorabilia, neon signs, and even a life-size cutout of Danny DeVito. Over the course of the weekend, it proved to have a unique way of inspiring the talents of artists who played there, and Kitchen Dwellers certainly showed that in spades.

They opened with a tune called “Waterford Son (II)”, from their 2024 album, Seven Devils, a record they described as “a deep dive into the Divine Comedy of Dante’s inferno”, and the Seven Deadly Sins. With the tunes’ descriptive lyrics and tight bluegrass instrumentation, the small audience of a production crew, friends, and a lucky few festival goers seemed to fall into a trance of sorts, fascinated with the music. After witnessing the technical prowess of the band, I became very eager to experience the rest of their set. A clear chemistry manifested between banjo player Torrin Daniels, acoustic guitarist Max Davies, upright bassist Joe Funk, and mandolinist Shawn Swain that reminded me of what I had only seen in jazz trios; no matter where the song seemed to go, they remained finely in tune with each other.

Most Popular

They continued with another tune from Seven Devils, called “Wind Bitten (VII)”. This song amped up the energy a bit, and the band continued to prove themselves as soloists who traded off frequently and masterfully during the course of the song. It was a perfect segue into the final tune of the set.

Now, I’ll admit, when they mentioned that they would be finishing the set with a Phish cover, I felt a little bit disappointed. Kitchen Dwellers clearly possessed a unique talent, and I was a fan of both Kitchen Dwellers and Phish, but truthfully, I felt like I could’ve predicted what came next based on my prior knowledge of the Burlington jam band, unable to hear something that surprised me. Despite these naive assumptions of mine, I could not have been more wrong, and what happened next is truthfully one of the most memorable moments I had at the Northlands festival.

They played a Phish tune called “Birds of a Feather”. It became clear within the first few seconds of the song that the band was as comfortable playing a cover as they were with their own songs. Melding bluegrass with a high-energy, jam sound in an effortless way that I had never really witnessed in person before, Kitchen Dwellers captured the nuances of a band like Phish in a manner that had previously seemed impossible with just acoustic instruments. Every time they seemed to reach an energetic peak during the song, they kept breaking through to new heights. Usually, audiences of our sessions don’t vocally yell during the sets to preserve the recording, but Kitchen Dwellers created an energy in that barn that seemed to invite a healthy holler and yelp from most who were in the room, almost as if it was a necessity.

Huge thanks to Jen, Mike, Seth, Greg, and the rest of the Northlands team for helping to make this session happen, and for giving us spaces like the Maple Barn to capture performances that really capture the unique aspects of artists. Keep your eyes peeled for more Paste Studio “On the Road” sessions!

Watch Kitchen Dwellers’ Paste Session at Northlands