Malachi Jaedon is a 21-year-old musician who goes by the name Faces Of Friends. He will perform with local bands Dark Revival and Harbingers at the band shell in Jack Kilby Square starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 13.

“My friends in Harbingers and Dark Revival are really pushing to start a real, live music scene in Great Bend, where every month we could do a show and have lots of people at each one,” he said. “We figured the first show being free, outdoors, and in the middle of summer, would be a great way to get as many people there as possible. The goal is that everyone there will have such a great time that they’ll have to come back for more.”

Jaedon writes acoustic indie pop/Midwest emo songs and dedicates them to people he meets by drawing their faces for the covers, and naming the songs after them. His acoustic songs can be streamed on various platforms by using the link : linktr.ee/facesoffriends. Since February, he’s had 600 listeners from over 40 countries on Spotify alone, he said.

Born in Georgia, Jaedon moved to Hutchinson when he was 8 years old and then to Great Bend at age 13. He said he’s long been drawn to the DIY music created by independent artists.

“I have always loved this sort of sad indie/bedroom pop type sound, artists like Dandelion Hands, Flatsound, and CyberBullyMomClub. But I didn’t want to try it until I could do something wholly original with it,” he said. Other musicians that inspire his sound are Ethel Cain, Hot Mulligan, Arms Length, Leanna Firestone, and just recently, Grammy nominated Phoebe Bridgers.

Jaedon says his concept of drawing faces of friends to go with accompanying songs is something he’s never seen another musician do before.

“Whenever someone means a lot to me, I’d typically write a song about them that I’d someday release,” he said. “I always feel that my words are inadequate, but if I actually had hundreds of people singing every word about how wonderful this friend I wrote about is, that would be the moment that I’d truly feel like that friend would know just how much I care about them.”

This year he focused on another form of art, drawing, and practiced by drawing the face of a new friend.

“We became very close very fast and I really wanted to write her a song, and use my drawing as the cover. A lot of talking back and forth with this person and the concept of Faces Of Friends really came to life,” he said.

Not every song is actually about the person it’s dedicated to, Jaedon said. “It’s more like when you open a book and the first page is ‘Dedicated to ____, who always believed in me.’ It’s not that the book has anything to do with that person, just that without that person, the author wouldn’t have gotten to the point in their life where they’d actually write the book. Same here, I’m just very, very publicly thanking the people who have been in my life up to this point.

“Another original part to this is that half of all streaming revenue goes towards the friends’ dreams or a charity they support. So just by listening to my music, you’re helping Brook start an animal rescue program, Markus afford film equipment to pursue directing, Angel afford to go to college, etc.”

Jaedon now spends a minimum of 42 hours a week on Faces of Friends.

“I am hoping to make music my full-time career in the next year or two. I’m already planning shows and scheduling songs into next year.”

The Great Bend Tribune welcomes readers to submit names of individuals they would like to see featured in a future story. Send suggestions to news@gbtribune.com and explain their “community connection.”