On The Native Sibling and the Potential in Everyhting

This past Saturday, February 7th, I hosted my first concert. On the bill was an opening act by the name of “Ishkov” who describe themselves as “post folk” music. Comprising of an acoustic guitarist, drummer, and saxophonist, their sound was incredibly unique and captivating. I and the rest of the attendees enjoyed their performance, but what this review/post/reflection is mostly going to focus on was the headliners performance and its symbolic implications.

This summer, while home in Michigan, I happened upon Ryan and Kaylee Williams, the brother/sister folk duo who go by the name of “The Native Sibling.” Their debut album “Letters Kept to Ourselves” was played on nearly every late night drive I took. Its captivating lyrics and stripped down musical style provided a sense of comfort that meshed well with being back in the presence of my loved ones. With them being based in Seattle, I knew I would have to try to bring them to Spokane when I got back.

Before I knew it, I was back at school and fall break had rolled around. I was headed to Seattle to spend time with some friends. The Native Sibling were playing a living room show in a Seattle neighborhood one of the days I was over there. A few friends and I bought tickets to see them. It was incredible and my hopes of bringing them over to Spokane soared. After the show, I talked to Kaylee about how they had to make it to Washington’s east side. A few email exchanges later, we set a date for them to play a Saturday night show at my church building.

Their performance is still incredibly fresh in my mind and will be one that I don’t think I or any of my friends in attendance will forget for a few reasons… For one, the attendance was very low, just over 20 people. Far more memorable, however, was the captivating experience it turned out to be. Due to the small number of people, Ryan came up to me and proposed the idea of performing strictly acoustic. No electronics of any sort, just their voices accompanied by an acoustic guitar and occasionally a harmonium. I was all for it.

Illuminated by nothing but dangling Christmas lights and performing to 20 or so college students cross legged on a cement floor, The Native Sibling tapped into a beauty that only authenticity can yield. My friend Brayden and I exchanged multiple glances of approval as Kaylee and Ryan’s voices united in such a way that couldn’t help but engulf ones body in chills. Their songs took myself and others to a place of peace. A place that casted aside whatever burden, sadness, or hardship we had walked into the building with. We became so captivated in the beauty of what was presently playing out in front of us that all presuppositions were cast aside.

An acoustic show like this says a lot about a much larger reality that was made apparent to me that night. Even the most simple, stripped down, or “unpolished” moments can provide a very real and heavenly experience when they are tied to truth and authenticity. At this show, I experienced a setting where people were blown away by no more than two voices and two instruments. Four different things that merely produced sound communicated truth and beauty in a way that was only made possible from a combination of beautifully crafted lyrics, wonderfully crafted music and, what I believe to be most important, an honest heartfelt performance.

We can create heavenly states all around us through being raw and authentic. This show yielded a very beautiful reality, one that recognized the potential of a situation and capitalized on it. The Native Sibling could have been flustered due to the small crowd, but instead, they were able to transform the situation into a memorable and profoundly beautiful experience. Crafting a very literal heaven on earth is possible. All it takes is a shift in perspective that results in providing the most beautiful reality that reality itself is capable of. We must let how we view things change and then allow that shift of perspective lead us to a place of experience that the current reality is capable of but maybe not consciously tapped into yet. 

Within every negative or uncomfortable situation is an unconscious positive waiting to be unveiled. Music does an amazing job with this. Heart breaking songs can express the recognition of how tough life can sometimes be which in turn yields the ability to cope with the reality of those hardships. But on a far larger scale, life is full of realities waiting to be shifted into something more beautiful than their surface makes them out to be. For this to happen though, we need to begin to become consciously aware of the positive reality all may not be conscious of. This in turn allows us to create a way of being that sustains peace and life giving realities. A large building that only has twenty fans in attendance can appear to be an uncomfortable and awkward situation. Yet it can also become an incredibly memorable experience if one is able to shift the expected reality into something unexpected that in turn becomes something beautiful and profoundly impactful. I challenge anyone who reads this to try and see how they are able to reframe a negative, difficult, or even as simple as common perspective into one that can be life giving, beautiful, and potentially memorable. Begin to see how a tree is not simply a tree but a lesson on the importance of community. How a song is not just a song, but a personal narrative reflecting on the potential we have as humans. Or how a phone call home is not just an exchange of current events, but an exchange of love. There is a lot of depth to life, and the more we experience it, the more we want to provide it. And the more we provide it, the more heaven can become unveiled right before our eyes.