2026 has been a year of ups and downs, and it’s only May as of this writing. The next up is a show we’re really looking forward to for several reasons.
First off, it’s the first of what we hope will be many events at Kenyon Hall in West Seattle. This lovely neighborhood theater is recently remodeled and upgraded, and should be an excellent venue for our artists. It’s run as a non-profit, so it fits in with our artistic vision. And there are a couple of handy establishments next door for food and drink.
As for the bill, we’ve got an especially varied combination of artists. There’s the progressive chamber folk of Immensity Crumb, the theatrical art rock of Fian, and the boundary-stretching electric jazz of Rik Wright’s Fundamental Forces.
Fian is a band based in Seattle, Orcas Island, and LA. From day one, Fian has pursued its chaotic and flagrant vision with an adamantine belligerence. For better or for worse, Fian has never considered any tastes beyond their own. The result is something out of place and time, something that doesn’t make much sense. They tend to create songs in linear structures that twist and convulse their way through polyvalent lyrical narratives, varying time and key signatures, and musical styles.
Low end virtuoso, Harrison Scannell leads the musical side of things on bass, Chapman stick, and Warr guitar with the occasional brass instrument to round it out. Drummer and gear nerd, Christian Rider uses his jazz background and subtle empathic touch to give a soft thrum or resounding thunder to the songs as they require. Robert Keene, lives in the woodshed and applies a dense knowledge of theory along with a demented imagination to give every melody a startling counterpoint. Joshua Nelson takes the sustained tone of Gilmour as his starting point and infuses jazz, metal, world music scales, and pedal alchemy to bind everything together with a beautiful distorted ¼”. Vocalist Jonathan Wilson uses the full breadth of his five octave range to whisper, scream, croon, and bellow his way through dense lyrical passages in lively conversation with existential philosophy, the modernists, the Bible, and of course Dostoevsky. Fian attempts to deftly dodge the various generic manacles that get bandied about but if under duress, they might consent to be under the wide umbrella of the term “progressive” though their lineage stems much more from King Crimson than Genesis or Yes. They are also heavily influenced by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, MewithoutYou, The Mountain Goats, and Sondheim.
Rik Wright’s Fundamental Forces is the Seattle-based flagship ensemble of guitarist and composer Rik Wright, serving as the primary vehicle for his original compositions and long-evolving creative vision. Drawing on jazz, progressive rock, blues, and cross-cultural influences, the group blends a wide-ranging rhythmic and harmonic palette into music that is both structurally nuanced and deeply groove-oriented.
Defined by deep ensemble interplay and rich, layered textures, Fundamental Forces prioritizes collective expression over soloistic flash, shaping a distinctive, genre-fluid voice. Across multiple recordings, the group has earned critical recognition in the contemporary jazz landscape, with strong national support on jazz radio and consistent praise for its originality, cohesion, and genre-defying sensibility
