Live Music - Nick Passey and the Perpetual Sadness

For City Weekly

The beginning of the year has the tendency to provoke the winter blues in us all. Utah-based trio Nick Passey and The Perpetual Sadness know the feeling all too well, and have their own remedy for combating these wintertime hardships. The folk/Americana group is therapeutically uplifting, with songs touching on relatable situations through a realist and satirical perspective. Passey, the main mind behind the band's work, has been involved in Utah's music scene since he was a teenager. Growing up in a musically gifted family, he was taught to sing at the same time as he was learning to speak. Passey is also a member of beloved local folk-punk band Folk Hogan, but he turned his skills closer to his singer-songwriter roots in 2017 by forming The Perpetual Sadness with cellist Kaitlin Findlay and drummer Curtis Stahl. That same year they released their debut EP Just Working Through Some Shit, which ebbs and flows between a humorous and heartbroken approach to life. Passey sings in the title track "cheaper than therapy to keep writing four-chord songs," alongside a stomping beat and acoustic guitar. But it does sway into a more serious tone with "Non Believer," where Passey evaluates his existential beliefs. Their 2019 single "Love Like Hate" holds true to the matter-of-fact lyrical structure found in their former work. This upbeat, fast-strumming acoustic ditty pairs smoothly with Passey's thoughts about opposing emotions and the confusing similarities between love and hate. Live, Findlay and Stahl complement Passey's vocals with eerie strings and light percussion, making them the ideal band to listen to in a bar setting. Either as a conversation-starter or -breaker, Passey and company will have you clinking beers with your neighbors while tapping your foot to the beat. The group also plays at A Bar Named Sue's Highland Drive location on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Kenzie Waldon) A Bar Named Sue, 8136 S. State, 10 p.m., $5, 21+, nickpassey.com