It is clear the members of Fractal Drift are in the room when they spontaneously break out into song, filling the room with music. Their voices mesh together perfectly in a rhythmic beat. They are in their element.
Fractal Drift is comprised of nine members all playing various instruments. It is one of many bands that make up Lehigh’s Music Box, a campus club devoted to bringing together student musicians.
Music Box president Evan Eckersley, ‘17, said Music Box provides opportunities to perform, provide practice space and a place to meet other musicians and potentially form a band.
Fractal Drift began when the founding members of the band, all of whom were living in Dravo at the time, were looking for people to jam with. They formed a band in order to play in Lehigh’s Battle of the Bands and ended up staying together, said Claudia Kolanovic, ’18, who is the lead vocalist and flute player for the band.
The band has expanded over the past year to include nine members. The all-sophomore band includes guitarists, a saxophonist, rhythm guitarists, bass players, a cellist, a keyboard player, a percussionist and a violist.
“If (the band) gets exponentially bigger every month,” lead guitarist Jason Conti, ’18, said. “They are running out of mics for us.”
The band said its name, Fractal Drift, came from a brainstorming session before its first battle of the bands.
“It’s symbolic of our repertoire,” Conti said. “We are always expanding.”
For now, Fractal Drift performs cover songs from other bands. However, if the song the band would like to play does not have written music for all of its instruments, Conti will write them in.
The members of Fractal Drift said their biggest influence is a London-based progressive metal band named Haken.
“We did this epic cover of one of their biggest songs and I shared the video with them on their Facebook page. Conti said. “And they shared it and it got something like 20,000 views.”
When some of the band members went to see Haken in New York City, they recognized the members of the Lehigh-based band and gave them a shout out during the show.
The band would like to continue to grow and begin to incorporate its own original music into its sets.
“Being in a band at Lehigh makes me feel more a part of the community,” Conti said. “Like I am a part of something else and contributing more than just school work.”
The band’s members hopes that more people will come out and support them at the monthly open mic nights and other concerts hosted by Music Box.
A new addition to Music Box is the band Wet Cement.
The group of three includes Alan Brucher, ’19, as a vocalist and bassist, Andrew Goldman, ’19, on drums and Justin Toto, ’19, on guitar and vocals.
Though it only formed a few months ago, the band already played in an open mic night and at an event on the UC front lawn.
Wet Cement said it has started to write its own music but for now it is playing covers.
“A lot of it is a ’90s rock feel,” Goldman said.
Wet Cement said that because it is hard to find practice space, the band ends up playing in the dorm room or lounges on whatever they can find.
“Before we started practicing in the lounge we would practice in my room,” Toto said. “(Goldman) would play on the bed frame and mattress.”
Wet Cement said it will be performing in several shows including the upcoming Battle of the Bands hosted by Music Box. The club also hosts three additional Battle of the Bands events in the spring.
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