START-TRACK AT SHOW: Hannah Sandoz + Dream of Time + Marty Nation + Virga Delta @ Squirm Gallery – October 17, 2025

Not a minute too soon, autumn has arrived in Boulder County. I’m looking out my window at a partly cloudy sky, obscured by the trees with their reddening leaves. My plaid flannel shirts, previously worn primarily for fashion, are now used for function as the temperatures drop to a sub-60°F median. Wind chimes sway in the breeze as the final sustained notes of Songs: Ohia’s Live: Vanquishers double LP fade from my speakers. It’s a welcome day off after an otherwise hectic week, a day of sipping black tea and rising to action as leisurely as possible.

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but my wife and I are relatively new to the Boulder area. She moved out here in January 2024, and I followed just a few months later in June. We started out in an apartment in Boulder proper, close to the University of Colorado Boulder, and ended up purchasing a condo in Louisville (the suburbs) in May 2025. In the year-and-change that we’ve been out here, I’ve managed to play a handful of solo shows in Boulder, and I’ve attended several in Denver as well. That said, there are still many small/artist-run venues that I’ve not yet had the chance to experience—no surprise given Denver’s wealth of activities on any given evening.

Hannah (Hann) Sandoz is one of my colleagues here at Start-Track—he is also a writer for this blog/label. When he announced on our Discord server that he was currently touring and had a stop in Denver, I made sure to add the event to my calendar. Fast-forward to early October, and my friend and collaborator Olivia Shaw (the creative force behind Denver’s Dream of Time) tells me that she’ll be playing this show at Squirm Gallery, and I should come out if I’m free—the same show that would feature Hann! All the more incentive to rally the troops and check out a new (to me) venue, supporting my friends in the process.

When I arrived at Squirm Gallery, I was immediately reminded of some of my favorite DIY spaces in Kalamazoo, Michigan—the Vine Neighborhood Association and the Recreation Co. immediately come to mind. The main event room is small and intimate, perfect for a show of this nature. The walls are lined with art—in this particular case, art with a specific and peculiar focus on Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left. The adjacent room houses a modest storefront, with jewelry, clothing, records, books, and zines available for purchase. Nobody is denied entry to the show, though donations are suggested and welcome (generally $10–15 for a gig of this size). A merch table is designated in the back corner of the main room, and a rudimentary mixing board is situated in the other corner, helmed by a studious-looking, clearly focused engineer.

Olivia Shaw’s Dream of Time set took place first, beginning around 8:00 pm sharp (actually, it was something like 8:05 pm, which is more than sharp enough for punk time). I know Olivia primarily from her work with Horse Bitch—who blew my mind completely on Thanksgiving Eve, and then again on Saint Patrick’s Day—and from our brief collaborations in the studio (her intuitive, exploratory approach to the violin will be featured on an upcoming record of mine). I’ve reviewed her debut single with Dream of Time, “Keys,” for Start-Track as well. Yet, I’ve never seen her perform as a solo artist before. I was eager to see how this might differ from the layered, carefully produced sound I know from her recorded work.

Olivia proceeded to play a half-hour’s worth of looped, delayed violin soundscapes with her dulcet, atmospheric vocals coasting over the top. The songs wandered, swayed, and swallowed themselves up in their own dreamlike delivery. I made sure to snap a few photos for the feature, of course, but I ended up keeping my eyes closed for most of her set, rocking gently to the sounds coming forth from Olivia’s position at the stage. I remarked to Olivia after her set that a part of me preferred the stripped-down, wide-open nature of her songs in that moment, that her music works just as well as an ambient feature. To cap off a relatively stressful week, her set was a gift, tranquil and stabilizing.

Denver mainstay Olivia Shaw performing as Dream of Time

Chicago artist Hannah Sandoz took the stage next, having arrived only shortly before Olivia’s set began. Hann had the misfortune of an automobile mishap while driving through New Mexico and heroically sprang for a rental car to make the show. Perhaps channeling the day’s havoc into raw creative force, Hann proceeded to deliver a set full of beautiful compositions to this small Denver DIY space. His songs could ostensibly be called “indie folk,” but their level of unpredictability clearly set them apart. With his detuned Squier Jaguar, he plucked out some of the most inspired melodies this side of Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, with a laptop by his side for occasional effects and atmospherics. For his last number, Hann set his guitar aside and sang while operating a sequence of synthesized foot pedals, culminating in a particularly uplifting song-and-dance routine, filling the room with warmth and a pained, triumphant optimism.

Hannah (Hann) Sandoz performing his ethereal compositions

Up next was Marty Nation, a Denver-based singer-songwriter duo with a dubious relationship to the indie actor and Lydia Lunch’s ex-boyfriend of the same name. At this point in the evening, the music took on a decidedly more traditional folk/country-influenced turn, with Marty belting out their confessional ballads to brilliant Telecaster-driven accompaniment. It speaks to the duo’s rhythmic intuitions that almost everyone in the audience was tapping their toes without a bassist or a drummer present. From my position in front of the stage, I caught a glance at the setlist and saw “Born on a Train” further down the list. Surely this couldn’t be a cover of the Magnetic Fields song? Indeed, it was, and it was delivered faithfully and creatively. The set was filled with wry humor and a relaxed sense of wit, despite the clearly personal subject matter of the songs.

Marty Nation is kicking things up a notch.

Finally, Virga Delta set up her table of assorted electronics in front of the stage as the last act of the evening. Virga Delta, another Denver-based act, played a 15-minute electronic set that channeled visions of clouds overhead—slow-moving, gracing peaceful skies, and occasionally turning black before breaking into a storm. Her oscillations between gentle ambient soundscapes and harsh noise bursts were mesmerizing and scintillating, and again I found myself closing my eyes, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her, throughout most of the set. It was the perfect closer to a peaceful, emotionally warm evening.

Virga Delta’s live ambient/noise improvisations

I snagged a tape and a sticker from Hann and disappeared into the night, blasting Neil Young’s Mirror Ball on the drive back to my Louisville home. It’s a pleasure to explore new musical territory in a city that’s full of promising, under-the-radar acts, especially when those acts happen to include friends, colleagues, and collaborators. Thank you, Squirm Gallery, and thank you especially to Olivia Shaw (Dream of Time), Hannah Sandoz, Marty Nation, and Virga Delta for a memorable Friday evening in the city.

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Written by Jacob Simons

All photos were taken haphazardly on an iPhone 11 by Jacob Simons.