Léna Bartels’ September album The Brightest Silver Fish dwells in dualities. With a push-and-pull between intensity and softness, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Portland, Ore., musician threads dreamlike textures with sardonic alt-rock wit, suggesting Aimee Mann or Nina Nastasia with lulling, blithely morbid lyrics. It’s a sound that pairs perfectly with her current tour mate, southwest Virginia artist Ian Hatcher-Williams, whose ambient folk project Lamplight roots the subconscious in the domestic. His 2024 self-titled album centers on his move into a Roanoke farmhouse and the meaning of home more broadly, with nods to Broken Social Scene and Duster. On Friday, the pair’s Southern run comes to Drkmttr, where they’ll play a cozy winter’s night with Billy Campbell’s noise-rock project Make Yourself at Home and “Nashville slow-whatever” act Off to Sleep.
8 p.m. at Drkmttr
1111 Dickerson Pike
