Peter Squires may have had his heart broken, but you'd never know it from the quirky and fun lyrics that comprise the majority of his songs.
Squires, a native of Long Island, N.Y., is touring the U.S. with his recently released solo album, "Woe is Me." Tonight marks the last stop on his tour when he performs with local acts Lizzie Wright Super Space Ship, The Delicate Cycle and The Secret Miracles at the Commons at Eudora Welty's Birthplace.
His album, released earlier this year, juxtaposes upbeat acoustic harmonies with lovelorn despair and humor. The song, "Witch," tells the story of a relationship gone sour with catchy lyrics.
"'Witch' is the one that people really gravitate to when I play it live," Squires says. "It has a participatory element to it."
Squires says the song is fun, and by the end of it, the audience is enthusiastically singing along, because they can relate to the experience.
"If you're going to write a whole 20 minutes straight about being heartbroken, you've got to throw in humor so you don't weigh it down to the floor. Sometimes I feel really self conscious about having an album that could be really depressing. So, to have fun with it and feel like I'm not taking myself too seriously is important," the 28-year-old musician says.
Squires attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in American culture. After college, he moved to Brooklyn where he played in the fake Christian rock band, "Sin Destroyers." Recently, he left his job as a corporate fundraiser at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to pursue music full-time.
Tonight's concert is at 8 p.m. at the Commons at Eudora Welty's Birthplace (719 N. Congress St.) Admission is $5. Download "Woe is Me" free from Squires' website.
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