Patrick Walker’s first trip to Kansas City found 40 Watt Sun healing recordBar

July 25, 2025

Andrew Dodderidge, Maddy Shugart,

40 Watt Sun. // photo by Maddy Shugart

40 Watt Sun
with Serpentent and Low Forest
recordBar
Tuesday, July 22

The hardcore become separated from the amateurs during a Tuesday evening bar show. On July 22 at recordBar, they came for a reason, drawn into a manically quiet hypnosis — making it clear that those in attendance, roughly 25-30 people, weren’t just innocent distractors looking for a night on the town. The headline offer was a solo set from 40 Watt Sun’s Patrick Walker, with support from Serpentent and locals Low Forest, a night of emotionally distinct and sonically rich music that drifted between contemplation, cleansing. The lineup promised a rare kind of intimacy—I think back to trekking to Burlingame for a basketball court appearance from nu-metal act Project 86—and did nothing but deliver.

Low Forest. // photo by Maddy Shugart

Meditation: Low Forest

Taking the stage 30 minutes later than vocalist Josh King had thought, the night began with Kansas City-bred Low Forest at 8 p.m. They laid a foundation of a more ambient post-rock with their 30-minute turn, which felt amazingly suited to the murky, low-lit space. Their sound — adapted to match the night’s themes and atmosphere — inches in around you, gradually lingering and rudimentary, neither flamboyant nor rushed. Conjuring a noise less reminiscent of counterparts Drifter, and more somewhere around Labradford, the three-piece wove guitar textures around soft drum beaters and bass washes, but with a Midwest-type integrity they can call their own.

The group’s flow broke often, with banter between cuts—such as prefacing the second song, inspired by Black Sabbath, with “we’re sorry to hear about Ozzy [Osbourne]’s passing today.” Surprisingly attentive for an opener, the crowd—likely full of local friends and supporters—was ultimately responsive. It was likely less a performance than their normal run-through, and more a shared moment to preview Walker. The band finished on a more heavy note, however, that vaporized into the air, leaving the packed dozens a sampling of the LP material perched at their merch booth.

Serpentent. // photo by Maddy Shugart

Ritual: Serpentent

Serpentent—the solo work of Anne K. O’Neill—reconstructed the stage into something close to hallowed, following a fleeting changeover. O’Neill, beginning by dimming the lights and appearing before everyone shoe-less, impressed with a ceremonial sacrifice. She performs her sound with beguiling assuredness — a blend of doom, dark folk, and post industrial that is sincerely rooted in mysticism.

Her recent LP, Ancient Tomes, Volume 1: Mother of Light, found some traction over the course of her 35-minute set, which was released in 2022 on Svart Records to independent praise. Supporting the weight of the atmosphere, her vocals were cavernous, leading, and powerful. Moored by keyboard, distorted vocals, and light acoustic guitar during her introduction, tracks (which were given no introductions) expanded steadily. Her move to keyboard provided a sense of rich desolation that intensified the night, feeling almost like she found that sound at that very moment and just decided to stick it out.

The design—not extravagance—of her theatrics is what stood out the most in the turn. Each hesitation and each gesture felt examined. You felt as if you’d been inaugurated into something faintly mysterious by the end: this wasn’t so much a “set,” more a sacrament, with long, drawn-out sections towards the back half. The smaller number in the audience were absorbing and empathetic — responding sincerely to O’Neill’s claim of this being her first trip back to town after dropping out of art school 20 years ago.

40 Watt Sun. // photo by Maddy Shugart

Restraint: 40 Watt Sun

The room was attentively calm by the time Patrick Walker, the entire spirit behind 40 Watt Sun, took to the stage at around 9:55. For those enamored with Walker’s career, specifically the bleak charm of records like Perfect Light and The Inside Room, calm is part of the appeal — and this wasn’t surprising. His solo takes lay bare his already spacious material down to its core: the vast “spaces in between” the vocals and acoustics.

“If you wanna come forward, you can,” he said, noting the rare table setup in the downtown venue. “It’s kind of crazy you’re sitting down 30 feet away.”

His 80-minute set was a giant exhale. He instantly locked the room into serenity beginning with “Colours” off Perfect Light. Tender yet roaring, and always staggering towards the edge of breaking, there’s something wholly irresistible about Walker’s vocals. What makes it sharply calamitous is that it’s not trained in any sense — it’s only emotion. The exposure is entrancing, and he explodes like someone releasing rather than conducting.

Even with a majority of the night drawing from Perfect Light, the magnificent junctures came from “Pour Your Love,” unreleased cut “Follow,” and a stunning performance of “Marazion.” His half-and-half pick/no-pick acoustic guitar timbre supported each track in the form of a pulsation—mellow, possibly overrestrained—and was the only backing. Confiding that the crowd will reach him in the restraint, there’s certainly a fearlessness in how little he provides. And they certainly did. Phones in pockets. People hypnotized, standing near. Conversations ended. Well … except for the guy who spoke to his companion the entire set, whom Walker called out on countless occasions, with a “shush” and a “shut up.”

To go along with some soft appreciation or those intermittent, mid-song tirades directed at the man, Walker also asked for audience requests directly after “Astoria.” His demeanor over the crowd won him the night, providing hymnal renditions of “The Spaces In Between” and “Carry Me Home” as a result. He even covered Jason Molina’s “Lioness”— prefacing it with a story about not delivering on a fan’s request for it a few weeks back and receiving hate mail from him as a result, vowing to not let it happen again. Seeping into the tight quarters during silence between cuts were the hand driers in both restrooms, but it somehow became one more sorrowful cry within range.

“Restless,” a track so graceful it feels like it could collapse in on itself—which Walker proclaims is indeed still on Spotify—was likely the most moving moment, a cut that ended the evening. Walker planted each line with gnawing clarity, drawing it out, knowing his next date wasn’t until Friday in Dallas. Although you could still hear the man in the crowd, it took nothing away. Out of a heavy acknowledgement, not just excitement, for the headspace he’d provided for all of us to enter, if only until 11:15, the reaction was deafening when he walked away.

–

Display and extravagance weren’t important Tuesday. No wavering lights, no distracting backing instruments, no encore. Persisting on like the smell of a beautiful summer night, it was thoroughly affecting — the kind of excursion that creeps up on you in the late hours of the evening or the morning dawn after.

The fusion of bands was united and considerate. Low Forest set the pace with ambience and self-restraint. Serpentent snowballed that with ceremony and presence. And with quiet theatrics — not magnitude — that managed to say so much more than most acts ever could, 40 Watt Sun brought it all together.

There was a detectable peace as people filed out onto Grand Boulevard. Some didn’t feel the need to speak at all, or move after “Restless.” Like speaking would break something that we’d just shared in the dark, in private. A show that leaves you more reserved than when you came in may end up being the best kind.

All photos by Maddy Shugart

40 Watt Sun

40 Watt Sun setlist
Colours
Pour Your Love
Follow (unreleased)
Astoria
Until
The Spaces in Between (request)
Carry Me Home (request)
Lioness (Songs: Ohia cover) (request)
Marazion
Because of Toledo (The Blue Nile cover)
Restless (request)