With the Cheshire Moon grinning through the rain clouds that have been haunting the Salt Lake valley throughout October, Erick Salazars’ You Shall Know Our Velocity transformed Kilby Court into a Night of the Bewitched. The production molded the space into as much of an art exhibit as a concert venue.

The man behind the music

The morning of the show, Salazar and I talked about what the upcoming night held, “The word we’ve been using for the art, the decorations, for the music has been ‘unwavering.’ That is how I’m going to feel tonight. Unwavering, steadfast in this art I’ve made,” he said, “I just want to be unwavering and say everything I feel. My music, it’s so soft, I want to surprise everyone with each place I go to tonight.” 

Salazar made true to his promise, playing high intensity rock with an even more intense stage presence. Connecting these waves of unbridled energy was the more familiar music of Salazar, folk-injected ambient ballads and while throwing out candy to the costumed patrons in the crowd, the resolute tempo of electronic drum and bass sang out. “The most important thing at any performance is that it’s done with your entire self,” Salazar said, “That’s what I want to do with Kilby tonight is make it seem like an elevated space.”

When talking about his journey between genres, Salazar mentioned his most popular hit, “Hey Lover, Listen To This.“ “That’s just what that song called for, and at this point, I’m way more into other things, electronic music, stuff with drums. Even when I was making ambient music, I was already writing that folk song. And at the time I was making that folk song, I was already thinking about electronic music.” 

Salazar hasn’t turned his back to those slow folk tunes though, with his costume being a crocheted retelling of Daniel Johnston‘s cover art from his 1983 folk album, “Hi, How Are You.” Salazar later played a cover of Johnston’s most popular song, “True Love Will Find You in the End.” Like Johnston, Salazar fills the gaps between musician and artist, using physical media to symbiotically grow his feel for music. “I’ll be able to visualize a song with the drawing or find a song within a drawing. They feed into each other all the time,” he said, “In terms of planning things and visualizing a show, I can just draw my outfit or the stage design and it’s so helpful. I think they go hand in hand. If I’m not drawing while I’m making music something’s off and I get kind of lost in the making of the music.”

The opening acts

Opening the night was Sequoia’s Faucet, a band who Salazar has been familiar with for a long time. “I played with Sequoia’s Faucet at their first show, we both opened for Drag,” he said, “I fell in love with Sequoia’s Faucet, they are very beautiful people.” The trio had a sound reminiscent of early Panchiko, with cloudy guitar riffs and sound bites from Japanese media. Yet even with these global influences, they played entranced with their americana folk rock roots shining through.

After a quick break, the statically charged band Gonk took the stage. Gonk is a band that knows what they want and wastes no time getting there, with most of their songs just cresting the one minute mark. Punchy, distorted vocals, rhythmic riffs and that all too familiar punk rock pace, Gonk electrified the Court like they had pop rocks under their tongues. “Gonk I have loved forever, they are the best,” Salazar said, “They’re such a good band. I saw them once and it was incredible. They’re just sweethearts. I can tell that they care so much about their music and they haven’t gotten jaded at all.”

“All the art you’ll see has been put together by a group of friends that are just wonderful, and artists themselves,” Salazar said, “Art by me and the people I love.”

The lights came on and the flow of people pushed me out into the courtyard. The low-laying clouds and moisture in the air prompted me to conceal my camera in my jacket from any impending drops. Grinning as my ears rang out, spellbound from the night. I made my way to my car as cherry pit sized tears began to wash over the city. 

You can check out You Shall Know Our Velocity, Gonk and Sequoia’s Faucet wherever you get your music.