Lee Emi has been writing the songs that make The Crane Wives work since 2010 — five studio albums, sold-out shows across the US and Europe. DESTROY EVERYTHING, her debut solo album out October 2, is the record she was writing the whole time. November is when she takes it on the road for the first time.
About the Show
Lee Emi is Emilee Petersmark, born Lee Sang-Eun in Suwon City, South Korea and raised north of Detroit. The stage name is a deliberate reclamation: “For years, Lee Sang-Eun felt like a costume,” she has said. “It never felt like something that belonged to me.” The album was produced with Crane Wives bassist Ben Zito and is described as “darker and somehow shinier” than the band records, pulling from navigating adoption, a rare kidney diagnosis (now in remission), pandemic isolation, and a trip back to South Korea. She says the record is about “finding belonging within yourself, embracing yourself as a whole instead of suppressing the parts of you you’re ashamed of.” The music “bears sharp teeth, leaning into the rawness of anger, grief, and self-doubt, weaving powerful melodies around potent lyrics.” Lead single “Clean Slate” she describes as a song that “deeply considers the option of giving up and starting over.” She also carries sketchbooks on tour and built an accompanying artbook for the album; the visual and the sonic developed together, each deepening the other.
Cal in Red opens — brothers Kendall and Connor Wright, a Grand Rapids duo with saturated guitars and Beach Boys-esque harmonies. Their 2024 debut LP Low Low (B3SCI Records) features James Mercer of The Shins on the track “Kitchen,” and the band has played 90-plus national dates, including opening slots for Bastille and The Crane Wives. Their third EP, The Days (S/R Records), dropped October 3, 2025, and addresses contemporary anxieties, from housing costs to empathy in decline, without losing the melodic instinct. Kendall Wright describes it as “an undoing as much as it does a return to form.”
Venue & Logistics
Buffalo Iron Works, at 49 Illinois St, is one of western New York‘s more reliable club stages. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. All ages.
Tickets
Tickets start at $32.12, all-in pricing per New York State law with no hidden fees. Buy tickets.