Grimes
Guest: MYTHS
Electric Owl
November 17th, 2011
Show 9:45 - 11:45pm
The hype about the opening act hadn't prepared me for what I was about to witness. Myths are comprised of two Vancouver-born female vocalists -- and the night began when the curtains were drawn back to show the two mysterious and taunting performers draped in DIY white dresses, which were splattered with florescent paint.
With their siren-like vocals they screamed white noise into their reverberating microphones with static-like and electronic backing instrumentals and moved like incredibly twisted swans. They electrified the audience and sent some of us into spastic dance. Their sound is unique and eclectic. It takes a particular type of music listener to be drawn into their experimental world, but it isn't hard to appreciate the intentional drift from the familiar song structures of verse and chorus. Disregarding some technical difficulties the show continued onwards with their interchanging war cries and vocal sounds.
Throughout the set their singing and uninhibited interpretive dance became enthralling and they slowly but surely cast their spell on all of us.
MYTHS - Prism Portraits
GRIMES finally graced the stage with her adorable presence at around 11 and here began the night we've all been waiting for. Her contagious ethereal sounds, childlike and quirky voice was what drew us all in. Dressed to set the mood, she donned a lime green leopard patterned robe which countered her all black ensemble and combat boots. Upon drawing back the curtains herself she introduced her personal interpretative dancer Jeff (?) (a well dressed hipster) who slowly but surely worked up a sweat bending and twisting his body into contorted shapes along with the sounds of Grimes, -- he danced with such intensity that his eyes could have bore holes into you.
Oblivion, Genesis and Vanessa threw the audience into a fury of dance. Body rolling, feet shuffling, hand raving and head bopping all carried the night along. Between songs she informed us it was her second time headlining her own show (after opening for the likes of Lykke Li and Austra) and so her set was short and a little disorganized but she would try to play one more song until the night would eventually end. Closing the set with a new song Claire Boucher performed with excited enthusiasm and wrapped up her 45 minute set.
What added to the show were the female (and male) audience members dancing onstage alongside Grimes, it was like we were invited to special house party. The show would have ended on a high note if it wasn't for one particularly drunk girl who felt the need to take the microphone and share that someone she knew had overdosed on Oxycontin just a year ago. It was not a good time for her sentiments, it was an awkward nightmare -- one where you just couldn't tear your eyes away from.
Disregarding this, Grimes ultimately stole the show with her eerie sounding vocals, who also kicked off her shoes early on in the set which pissed her off and unraveled her pinned braided pigtails. We all let our hair down and danced until all we saw were the blur of stage lights and heard nothing but the music of Grimes echoing in our ears.
** If you missed this show, don't worry, Grimes now calls Vancouver home and is scheduled to play at Fortune Sound on February 19th of next year.
"You know, I always say, there are only two ways to be completely alone in this world... lost in a crowd... or in total isolation."
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Ali Wong
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(male) audience member *cough cough cough* who was that?
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