An Unexpected End

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the release party for An Unexpected End’s newest single, All Together in Denver. The band, abbreviated as AUE, has roots in Winkler and Morden, Manitoba, and has been touring across the country since 2020. They’re expected to push an album out in the next year, with rumors of release as early as 2026.

I was invited on a whim by one of the baristas at my local coffeeshop, Whitecap, last week. They handed me a card with a photo and a road number on it, and told me they’d see me on Friday.

When Friday night rolled around, I punched the road number into my GPS, and it told me the yard was between this town and the next, then a little up the road. I drove along harvested pastures towards the stop sign, then took a left. A lone deer made its presence known on the shoulder but never dared to cross until I’d passed.

With the windows down, I coasted along the path towards the barn. Little girls in dresses ran on the road, giggling and chasing their brothers towards a play set. 

I found a parking space between an old tool shed and an older style truck- one that fit right in at the farm here; red, worn, full of stories.

A man I recognized from town waved me towards the house on the western side of the yard. 

Hippies go around back.

We walked past the vine-covered house, then the garage towards a row of tables and a low hanging decorated tree. John Wiebe, the lead singer of An Unexpected End, and his brothers greeted us at the clearing for the concert. We were encouraged to grab some snacks, settle in, and have a good time. I perused the snack table while Wiebe, barefoot and calm, wandered the yard and greeted every guest, making the moment more intimate. 

We were on sacred ground.

I put our chairs down underneath the low tree and waited for the music to begin. Whispers and giggles hung low to the earth. Many faces I recognized, but only a few names. Most of which were local creatives from this town or the next, all huddled under one auburn Manitoba sunset.

-Syd Bomek, a soft pop/indie artist from Manitoba, opened for AUE with an excellent acoustic rendition of her recent EP and other singles from the last few years. Her song Habits from her Reverie EP was the strongest of her set, with excellent lyricism and a fire in her voice that evokes a sense of moving on.

“I broke all of my habits- I’m still too hard to manage.

I threw it all away for something- and now I’m nothing.”

Bomek’s vocals, along with her partner’s guitar, set the stage for what would be one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever witnessed. Pain, suffering, joy, and regret all echoed in the trees around us, bringing tears into the eyes of the guests on my left and right.

Her blonde hair swayed with her hemmed white skirt, swayed with the trees and the audience.

For a moment, I was taken back to the late sixties when girls wore flower crowns and men had long hair. Near the stage, a blanket full of dirty-footed twenty-somethings sat chin to knee, sliding coloured beads onto waxed string to make friendship bracelets. At the far corner near the back, a group of four passed around a tightly wound joint, putting on sunglasses afterwards to show you what they’d just done.

Her performance wrapped up neatly, with a long round of applause from the audience. After they exited, Wiebe brought AUE to the front and announced that there were still plenty of snacks to go around. 

Fruit snacks, roasted almonds, and fresh peaches for all. 

An Unexpected End, in contrast to Bomek’s performance, consists of a bassist, drummer, and an electric guitarist, along with Wiebe’s voice and acoustic guitar. The two acts complemented each other, allowing a change in tone but consistency in familiarity.

Their opening track, Professionals, set the tone for a cool, calm and collected performance that echoed some of recent history’s greatest strengths. Indie folk has changed in the last decade, ushering in a new wave of airy, ethical, carbon neutral melodies for those with ears to lend. 

On stage, the band has a visual mix of 80’s farm boy meets Grateful Dead- long hair, beards, Levi’s jean jackets and trucker hats. And, most notably, no shoes this time around.

Their music on the other hand, is a mix of what I can only describe as a young cigarette-free Bob Dylan singing with a soft Kings of Leon, filled with emotion and symbolism of heartbreak and new love.

Influenced by him or not, the vocalist’s Dylan-esque cadence really makes its appearance during their 2022 single Chamomile when he emphasizes the words ‘freight train.’

“I been feeling that low- I feel so alone.

And then it hit me like a freight train- a fragrance I know.”

The bassist- the only member of the group with short hair- surprised me with a heavy, Chili-Pepperish riff at the beginning of Radar, their 2021 single. Deliciously out of place, I think the crowd enjoyed the unexpected change in tone. Several people from the audience let out a woo and a clap when the drums kicked in.

This change in energy highlighted that the band has experience past their usual indie-folk roots, and I wondered if they might turn the heaviness up in the future.

We were among family, with Wiebe’s parents hosting the event. The singer and guitarist of AUE grew up on the yard that hosts the concerts. Between setlists and song changes, the sounds of a creaking swing set and children playing in the field murmured through the bushes around us. The band has a knack for storytelling, with rich lyricism and anecdotes sprinkled between sets, bringing the audience a little further into the family.

From the introduction to Furlough:

“Something I forgot until recently, is my dad actually kind of wrote the lick to this tune. I always remember him jamming this little - lick, it goes to F. And I, I asked him if he’s ever written to anything to this one, and he said no, so we did.”

Someone from the crowd called out to his dad, “Hey Vern did you get points on this one?”

“We’re in a royalty war,” he joked back.

Eros, the fifth song on their set list, began as the sun dissipated behind us, leaving us to the privacy of the flickering string lights and paper lanterns around us. The song began with an unwavering gentle whistle into the microphone. Had it been the sixties, I imagine we would have brought lighters out for the performance.

Late into the night, I was able to experience the heart of the band in a way that stereos and headphones cannot replicate: among their closest friends and in the lead singer’s childhood stomping grounds. 

An Unexpected End finds their pace in the wilderness, with their live performance outshining their recordings. Their strengths in consistency and storytelling show how indie/folk thrives when it’s grounded in a healthy community. Below a star-filled sky, huddled under a canopy of leaves and lanterns, they brought together a group of individuals who all have a creative itch to scratch. Musicians, singers, painters and writers. In a city of hymns, they play the drums. In a town of grey, they bring forth a rich colour palette.

Last Friday, it was 1968 in San Francisco, and we were riding the wave before it broke and rolled back.

-=-=-

Written by Chase Winter