KISS THE ABYSS: Big Thief’s Adrienne Lenker steals us into February with a show at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club (1221 State St.), and it’s kind of a big deal. Lenker spins haunting hypnoses of melancholy magic, a gentle force unto her own as well as when playing with her folk-rock group, Big Thief, from Brooklyn. She writes of life’s darkness with the light-speckled shadowing grace of migrant birds moving en mass. On her recent album, 2018’s abysskiss, she took a long, soft look at life’s great unknowns, to certified acclaim, garnering comparisons to everyone from Radiohead to Nick Drake. Fans of beautiful folk music ought to jump on tickets while they can.
Opening for Lenker will be her longtime friend and collaborator Luke Temple. Temple shares a warm intimacy in his works. He transmits little folk wisdoms in his stories of uncovered secrets and latent domestic disturbances, broken homes, and broken minds. There’s lyrical drama, but it’s enrapturing in the way of a moving movie — and more lithe and lovely. The show starts at 9 p.m.
DANTE RIDES AGAIN: Also at SOhO, the ever-excellent Dante Elephante commence the month with a hometown show on February 1 before they hit the wide-open road for a national tour. Those who’ve tracked the band since its performance at 2018’s KjEE Summer Round Up have seen the band’s evolution from surf rockers to crafters of smooth funk-R&B hits; those who haven’t are in for a treat. Led by the irrepressible Ruben Zarate with a revamped lineup, the band has never sounded more at ease — or more sexy.