Foxy Shazam at PORT CITY MUSIC HALL

When you hear the word "craftsman" it's almost inevitable that you first picture a large man with a beard in a plaid shirt building a jelly cabinet or wooden boat on a Saturday afternoon PBS show.

You probably wouldn't first think of Dean Ford in his sharp suit, coiffed hair and set list built to move you, yet that's what he is. Dean is a musical craftsman of the 21st Century. Instead of a planer and dovetail jointer he swings a guitar on his back and crafts stories from the heart, that just happen to make you move your ass.

That finely crafted pop hasn't happened by accident. It's the product of a life surrounded by music. From a young age Dean was enamored with pop music and the way it reached him. He absorbed music both listening to and playing, becoming proficient in the tools of his craft (drums, guitar, keys, bass).

Previously, Dean led the pop-rock band The Goodnight Process, writing all of their material as well as handling vocals and guitar. The first EP, “The Silent Pages” was released when Dean was just 16. Shows and songs continued with “The Way Things Are”, their 2nd EP released in 2009. Following the release of their 2nd EP, the band toured music halls and bars, sweating it out under the lights (sometimes quite literally). The work didn't stop on the road for Dean though, as he was already squirreling away songs for the next album. That album materialized as his latest offering “Deaf. Dumb. In Love”, released under his own name, putting him in the spotlight as the talent he has always been.

At 21, Dean Ford already writes and sings with the pop-sensibilities of someone 15 years his senior. His love songs are not rooted in high school locker-romances or college frat guy come-ons. Instead, they are honest paintings of the good, bad and horrendous aspects that come along with love. His songs run the gambit of pop rock from the damn-near-blue-eyed-soul of Hall & Oates (“Come On Say”) to darker almost-troubador-esque tunes like the as-yet unreleased “The Rattlesnake” & “Johnny & Patricia”. Dipping back into a catalog of tunes he's written either as The Goodnight Process or under his surname, Dean connects with the listener in everyone.

At the time of writing, Dean is already at work on another EP to follow “Deaf. Dumb. In Love” and like any craftsman, he's his own worst critic. It won't leave his workshop until he puts his stamp of approval on it but when it does, we can all reap the rewards of his hard work.

A Severe Joy is not just an anagram of musician/producer José Ayerve, it is also an experimental alter ego. In 2011, Ayerve reinvented his approach to music making and performance after 15 years of fronting renowned underground indie rock group, Spouse. The multi-instrumentalist and driving force behind several studio albums, singles, and EPs dating back to the late 90’s, re-imagined himself as something of a masked adventurer; mining for inspiration amid some of the darker and highly personal areas of his life. The result is a far more uninhibited, aggressive, and emotionally charged version of himself. The dynamic pop of dance beats, clustered harmonies, overdriven guitars, pulsing bass-lines, and fuzz-laden synthesizers, at times transform back into the simplest combination of solo electric guitar and unaffected vocals.

A Severe Joy adapts his performance according to the size, location, and audience of each event. Having performed a wide range of shows; from large concert venues against a backdrop of video projections and a foreground of burlesque dancers to the most intimate and stripped-down house concerts, from a public library to a private boat, and from a vintage clothing store to numerous clubs, bars, and art galleries, the main component of A Severe Joy’s ‘live’ show is Ayerve’s immediately identifiable vocals. Handheld lights, frenetic dance moves, and an array of surprises add new dimension to the excitement of his sonic material.