Jake Minch is a sad guy with an acoustic guitar. But he’s much more than that.
He’s a writer who makes listeners nostalgic for something they have not experienced. He’s a singer who has a voice that travels directly to listener’s hearts. And he’s an artist with a criminally small fan base.
On the outskirts of Washington, D.C., tucked between rundown industrial buildings and hipster coffee shops, eager Grace Enger fans line up on March 11 at the Songbyrd Music House many unaware they will leave with new songs on their playlist.
Jake Minch has been opening for Grace Enger’s sold-out “It’s so Fun Tour” since Feb. 19. To simply say that “Minch put on a show at the Songbyrd Music House” would be to downplay the intimate experience of seeing an artist passionately and confidently share his music to a room full of people that have never heard of him.
The Performance
With only an acoustic guitar and vocals that make one feel as if they are in the comfort of their home during a fall rainstorm Minch performed six songs released out of his discography of 10, and two unreleased songs.
Minch opened his performance quiet and simple. The first song Minch performed was “strip mall” which was identical to the recorded studio version. While listening to the song the audience navigates a calm rhythmic chord progression and soft, kind vocals. I have attended over 15 concerts over the past couple of years and at each one of them the opening act leads with a loud fast-paced song in order to leave an epic first impression on the audience.
Minch on the other hand, went in the opposite direction. The song “strip mall” crafted a restful atmosphere that stayed consistent throughout Minch’s entire set that brought me to a place cognitively where I was sitting on the floor in a dorm room late at night with a couple close friends while one of them played guitar.
A song that Minch made slight adjustments to compared to the studio recording his song “Jessie.” In the studio version Minch’s wishful voice is accompanied by a whimsical orchestra of percussion and brass instruments. Because of this as the song reaches its climax the vocals are drowned out by instrumentals that would play at the end of a coming-of-age film when the main character finds comfort in newfound solidarity.
This hopeful undertone in the studio recording’s instrumentals is a stark contrast to the lyrics that it overtakes. By only playing the song with one instrument during the live performance of “Jessie” Minch is able emphasize the last lyrics in the song “Please come home, come home, come home,” which beautifully encapsulates the emotional weight of the song.
Before playing “Jessie” while he was interacting with the crowd and tuning his guitar, Minch introduced the song by stating what it was about.
“This next song is about a friend that went MIA,” Minch said.
The concept of losing someone important in one’s life directly touched the crowd. Specifically, Carly Dacanay, an excited fan who has been listening to Minch’s music for over a year.
“Oh, it’s so sad,” Dacanay said. “It’s like everything I love about The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball but newer and more sad.”
The two unreleased songs that Minch performed were both lyrically and musically consistent with the rest of his works; however, it had a respective format that made it easy for all audience members to sing along. The song appeared to center around the idea of the addiction of cigarettes through the repeating line, “It sticks to your fingers and your clothes.” Although all of Minch’s songs cover heavy topics such as addiction and loss, Minch delivers some lines with a smile on his face or in a sarcastic tone.
Audience member Matt Spear who was attending the concert with his friend Dacanay was impacted by Minch’s music after hearing it for the first time.
“It’s like young people sad but I also read a subtext into his lyrics that there is lightheartedness as well,” Spear said.
The Venue
So, what is a songbird? Corryn Wetzel, a reporter for Audubon magazine, writes that all songbirds have the ability to share their song with the world.
“Despite their variety in size and musical talent, all songbirds do have something in common: precise control of a highly specialized vocal organ called a syrinx”
The Songbyrd Music House provides artists such as Enger and Minch with precise control of their vocals, making it a personable atmosphere to intimately share their talent.
Different sized disco balls hung chaotically from the ceiling while a tattooed bartender with a sleeveless shirt passes out colorful mixed drinks. The sizzling sounds of hamburgers cooking in the kitchen are drowned out by the sound of fans singing along to Taylor Swift songs that play over the speakers.
Audience member Amanda Johnson who has discovered Jake Minch through Grace Enger’s tour explained that a mixture of music and atmosphere is the cause of an emotion reaction to live music.
“I think a venue like this allows for fans to really feel what the artist is saying in their songs,” Johnson said. “When the venue is so small we get to meet like-minded individuals who all enjoy an artist, or we get to potentially find new artists like Jake Minch.”
All 3,000 square-feet of the Songbyrd Music House is occupied by excited fans and busy staff. However, once the performance starts the habitual noise before a concert dies down and the opener stands in front of a sold-out crowd that fills the small venue to max capacity. Cozy lighting of Christmas lights wrapped around fake trees on stage illuminates Minch as he begins his set.
2021 Graduate at Colby Sawyer College and live music lover who has been to over 50 shows in the Mid-Atlantic region Kelsi Maddock explains that
“A small venue provides a very intimate experience for music fans,” Maddock said. “I think they’re really good for people who are just getting into live events.”
Jake’s Future
It can often be hard to determine an artist’s popularity solely by their monthly numbers on Spotify. The absence of over half the audience ability to sing along with Minch’s performances is a contextual indicator that he is still a growing artist.
Grace Enger’s tour manager Justice Mirabal explained that Minch has come a long way from his roots in Connecticut.
“I tour managed this other artist Sadie Gene last year and Jake was also the opener for that,” Mirabal said. “So, I think it’s been really cool to see how his performance has changed and how he’s opened up a lot more.”
Although many audience members did not know the words to Minch’s songs the emotions that Minch puts into his performances was visibly contagious to almost all the audience’s members. Some stood quietly crying to the emotionally vulnerable lyrics and others looked at Minch with content closed-mouth smiles on their faces as if Minch was playing his songs just for them.
A shared theme among many of the audience members is that the reason they discovered Enger was because she was an opener at one time. Due to the emotional impact that Minch has had on the audience, I believe in a couple years people will be saying the same thing about Minch at a show he is headlining.
“He makes sure to come and talk to fans after the set and it’s really awesome to see him touch so many lives that are younger than him, older than him, his same age,” Mirabal said. “I think that his songs just strike a chord with people from all different kinds of backgrounds and upbringings.”
