Some songwriters excel at form and structure. Some capture expert snapshots of people, places, and things. Some craft entire mythological worlds of obscure characters and references.
Rare is the artist who can dabble in it all; rarer still is someone like Chris Frisina, whose music as Lou Hazel melds observation, humor, reflection, and nostalgia. Firmly rooted in the type of rambling, fingerpicked folk made famous by John Prine (yes, it’s a legit comparison), Frisina is still his own man. A millennial polymath, he weaves myriad strands—photography, graphic design, environmental art, painting, video editing, and more—into his creative output.
“It’s like you enter a different realm,” Frisina said of the process of making art, chatting over coffee at Joe Van Gogh on a recent hot summer morning. “Or let yourself walk into a doorway that makes you feel closer to the true essence of life.”…