On Friday night, the monthly Long Winter show was bumped to the next day for Maylee Todd's Virtual Womb. This local musician has always dabbled in visual/performance arts and she has enlisted her friends to collaborate in an evening-long performance piece. The venue was packed and a number of people lining up outside couldn't score any last-minute tickets.
True to the title, Roxanne Ignatius has created a giant vulva, complete with patchy hair, to cover the entrance to the main hall. Inside, the audience was encouraged to remove their shoes, spread out blankets, and get cozy. Before the show, the ceiling projection played a CG gestation from fertilized egg to fetus while the speakers emitted a thumping heartbeat.
When Maylee Todd and her backup vocals (Maya Kiltron, Genevieve Marentette, Janelle Monique) came out, they stayed on the floor with the crowd. The stage was reserved for the string section and various dancers. Each song was accompanied by a trippy, funny, or psychedelic montage shown overhead. So some people chose to spend the whole evening lying back in relaxation. I switched between looking at the videos, and watching the band, especially the funkier numbers when Todd joined the dancers in some tight choreography.
Todd debuted some new songs (Poetry of Intuition, Lonely), older material (Successive Mutations), other projects (Downtown from her Maloo incarnation), and a couple of covers. There were some sloppiness and rough spots here and there. The projector cut out for one performance, some songs ended abruptedly, and for one tune, the strings fell completely apart and had to be conducted back in by Todd. Overall though, it was an interesting show with well-integrated music, visual arts, and dance.
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