2016 is a leap year, and you know what that means: February gets five Mondays! Moonlight an extra night at these FREE Los Angeles residencies. Lena Fayre graces the Bootleg after a sold out show at Chicago's Art Institute — and possibly with new songs from an upcoming release? The bar stage gets a fifth Monday sendoff from Marjorie Fair. From Aliso Viejo to Los Angeles, trio Adult Books begin their monthlong stay at The Echo, switching it up on the third Monday with a performance at the spaced out Echoplex — read their latest interview with Lo-Pie. Pom Poms and The Controversy share four nights at The Satellite. Finally, Bright Missiles tear it up on Tuesdays at Silverlake Lounge, after Silver Snakes' last free Monday with AEGES, Minnow, and The Royal. - Ryan Mo

Lena Fayre at The Bootleg (21+):

Feb. 1 — with Vox, AKW
Feb. 8 — with TRACE, Lush Guts
Feb. 15 — with YASSOU, Me Yow
Feb. 22 — with Phebe Starr

Adult Books at The Echo (21+):

Feb. 1 — with The Molochs, Drinking Flowers, Terminal A
Feb. 8 — with Colleen Green, Psychomagic, Mother Merry Go Round
Feb. 15 — with Numb.er, Tracy Bryant, Wyatt Blair
Feb. 22 — with Part Time, Billy Changer, Noah Kwid (at The Echoplex)

Pom Poms and The Controversy at The Satellite (21+):

Feb. 1 — with Mothertapes, Chasing Kings
Feb. 8 — with Artists TBA
Feb. 15 — with Artists TBA
Feb. 22 — with Artists TBA
Feb. 29 — with Artists TBA

Bright Missiles at Silverlake Lounge (21+):

Feb. 8 — with Steps of Doe, Fan Fiction, Judy Gloom
Feb. 15 — with The Modern Age, Yo, The Noogles
Feb. 22 — with Pizza Friday, Deep Breaths, V.V. Friendly
Feb. 29 — with Jubilo Drive, Bedbugs, Ghosts In Pocket

We got into the Bootleg Theater for Miya Folick's EP release party thinking it'd be a pretty intimate gig. Some people trailed in as the sound guy checked levels with his iPad, but it looked sparse. No one was staking claim to the tables in front of the bar stage.

Then, five minutes before the set, a flash mob fashionably swarmed out of the theater end. It was lit.

Shannon Lay of Feels started the night with songs from her solo debut Holy Heartache while Alaska Reid (Alyeska) traded banter and set fire with her newest single "Medicine River". Miya Folick's performance, enhanced with the visuals of Vinyl Williams, drew a crowd so tight the photographers could barely move around. Lena Fayre's ethereal voice drew the night to a close with songs from her summer EP "Is There Only One?" Shoutout to Liv Marsico (Liphemra) for spinning in-between sets (we did cry), and we think we caught a glimpse of Jeremy Katz (Froth, HOTT MT)? That was tight.

Check our Instagram @TheDeliLA for more pictures from the show, and catch Miya again at The Satellite on December 17th for a benefit show with Mereki and Madi Diaz! - Ryan Mo, photo: Michelle McCausland

Singer-songwriter Miya Folick is not all that strange. She grew up in Santa Ana, went to college for Theatre, and moved to New York for a short period of time. In a recent interview with Drunken Werewolf, Folick concedes that she didn't consider pursuing music in her adolescence.

"I think I came to music fairly late. I didn't grow up thinking I'd be a working musician or even thinking that that was in the realm of possibilities for me."

And yet "Talking with Strangers", the first song we heard Folick half-nervously perform at James Supercave's 11/11 show, commanded a je ne sai quoi seldom felt from rosy-eyed musicians, and even less seldom heard by Los Angeles. For those six minutes, the Echo resonated with her voice and guitar, an off-white Telecaster finger-plucked with precision — unequivocably serene. As she performed alone, it was difficult to consider Folick's singing with embellishment, but listen to the studio version in her newly released "Strange Darling" EP.

Like the devil winds of Santa Ana, the katabatic pianos, synth dust, and guitar arpeggios fan Folick's verses into flames, burning presumption to leave us in the ashes of wonder and awe.

"Strange Darling" is available to stream on Miya Foick's Soundcloud and Bandcamp page. Watch Miya Folick perform at The Bootleg Theatre on December 3rd with Lena Fayre. And maybe buy some underwear, if you're a strange darling. - Ryan Mo