Conversations with members of the band Taarka can bounce from topic to topic, just as their style of music will bounce from genre to genre.
Music was obviously at the forefront of a recent conversation with the duo of David Tiller and Enion Pelta-Tiller, who remain the heart of Taarka, but other topics discussed included parenting, cooking, onomatopoeia words and art. Like that conversation freely traveling from topic to topic, their sound, which is a hybrid of acoustic and electric string band music, will move from bluegrass and roots-Americana to singer-songwriter folk, newgrass and gypsy jazz.
Taarka will perform Saturday at Durango Craft Spirits for iAM MUSIC Fest, the concert series benefiting iAM MUSIC.
Performing with Taarka on the bill are singer-songwriter Dana Ariel and Stillhouse Junkies, who recently were awarded the “Momentum” Award by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Enion and David’s musical relationship began some 20 years back, when the two met in New York City as members of the insurgent bluegrass band Brooklyn Browngrass. Realizing they both had musical interests that stretched well beyond playing punky-bluegrass, along with a need to get out of the Big Apple after Sept. 11, they headed West. They then formed ThaMuseMent, a band that kicked through Durango in the early 2000s, and soon after ThaMuseMent ran its course, the genre-shifting band Taarka was born.
If you go
WHAT: Stillhouse Junkies, Taarka and Dana Ariel play iAM MUSIC Fest.
WHEN: Two shows, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Durango Craft Spirits, 1120 Main Ave.
TICKETS: $10-$125.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://bit.ly/30LEF6D.
They’ve been churning out original music since that birth, writing string band music influenced by a diverse ear.
“We’re very broad in our listening. We listen to a lot of different kinds of music and we love a lot of different kinds of music,” Enion said. “So all of those sounds are in our ears. So when we sit down to write, whether we’re like ‘OK, we need to write something now’ or whether it just comes later. It draws on all those diverse influences we have, and then we try to find a groove that fits with whatever came out.”
It’s also a sound that continues to change. There’s obvious nods to Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s gypsy jazz, and the Dawg music of David Grisman, but there’s also connections to indie-folk and sounds reminiscent of other Front Range-based acoustic bands; it’s a collection of stretched-out instrumentals and straight-ahead, lyric-driven folk tunes.
“In our early stages we had percussion and bass, and that was string band based with fiddle, guitar and mandolin. What we’re doing now is a hybrid between string band acoustic and more of an electrified sound. We worked a lot with the band Elephant Revival, and Enion was a part of that band for a while,” David said. “But we go through phases. It’s still acoustic-based music but electrified acoustic so to speak. We’re just trying out flavors. When a song comes to one of us when we’re writing, it can be because of something we were digging into. It’s like we’re liking something, and sort of letting it fly and seeing what happens.”
This investigative feel to making music has a cooking approach: You’re in a kitchen with a load of different ingredients to make a meal, and through experimentation you make that meal. Yet in a musical sense, you replace salt, garlic, butter and various vegetables with voices, stringed instruments and percussion. The end result is a collection of songs.
“It’s about finding what we feel is the perfect setting for whatever music or whatever performance we happen to be doing,” Enion said. “Because we have these different sounds, tones, textures and styles available to us, we want to use that whole palette to create what feels like the best possible version of ourselves.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
