Word spreads fast in this town
Actually, I spread the word quite extensively myself. I'll be moving back to Burbank, California at the end of September. Words cannot express how much I will miss being part of Project 4, and of the art scene here in DC. Los Angeles is an incredibly captivating city which I could not resist. The Popcorn Project will continue, but will cover visual art and music in Los Angeles starting in October.
Since returning to DC two weeks ago, I haven't been able to get this album out of my head. During all the long car rides winding through the veins of my new city, "Faces in the Rocks" by Mariee Sioux really became a huge part of my experience.
I was first introduced to Mariee Sioux when she performed solo at the First Annual Manimal Vinyl Festival in Joshua Tree this past June. What strikes one first are her beautiful trills which vary her pose from tender and childlike to poised with strength. Her transfixing voice leads you through mysterious and haunting paths of forests and imaginary landscapes. On this debut album, vocals, guitar and Native American flute are featured, laying the platform for the rich tone that Sioux creates. It is the lyrics that make this album among the most transcending. Her poetic narratives vividly describe natural elements existing and transforming, deeply internal corporeal phenomena occurring and thrilling and vital events taking place in a romantically staged early American hunter-gatherer civilization. The scenes that Sioux describes are both fantastical and antiquated, tied to our contemporary experience only by her use of innovative meditations:
"bravitzlana rubakalva, our very own country
bravitzlana rubakalva
oh, there, we have see-through bellies
where we can watch all the miracles happening
and we can watch our organs clapping
and we can watch our bread dissolving
and we can watch our cells dividing
and we can see our babies floating
and we can watch them form from nothing
sit back and just watch them form from nothing"
Mariee Sioux celebrates the heart of traditional folk music with her beautiful vocals and melodies, simple instrumentation and lyrical musings on love and nature but expresses originality and exciting reinterpretations on "Faces in the Rocks".
Project 4 is currently in the process of completely transforming the gallery space into a stage for "Living Sculpture", an installation/performance exhibition orchestrated by J.J. McCracken:
August 21 - September 11, 2008
Performances:
August 21, 7:00pm and 8:15 pm
August 29, 7:30 pm
"Living Sculpture" by J.J. McCracken is a series of performances that showcase the beauty of clay's transformative qualities joined with the dramatic presence of staged figures. Several vignettes composed by McCracken will incorporate figures and props covered in soft tan-colored clay and will allude to concepts of time, transformation and corporeality. The vignettes will be arranged throughout the gallery over a three-week period, and can be simultaneously interpreted as paintings, sculptures, installation and performance.
Come see me before I go!
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