![]() ![]() I like to think there is something of that “will toward freedom and More Life” at play in all of Kilmurray, McPhatter, and Akinbola’s creations. The possibility of a moment not yet experienced, and yet filled with recognition (of ourselves, of society, of imagined worlds), is what brings many of us to performances-and parties, and vibrant conversations-with curiosity and eagerness. Performance is powerful in part because of its resilience, its contradictory potential to make a newly transcendent experience happen over and over-to create a feeling, something totally different, that we hope might return again. And again.” ¹ That “will toward freedom and More Life” is a necessity for people whose very lives are regularly called into question, such as the Black and/or queer artists in this year’s series. Today and over the coming years, Chicago Performs aims to spotlight the depth and range of the city’s creative landscape and support artists as they expand the scale of their practices with new works made with and for Chicago and beyond.Ĭhicago-based scholar Joshua Takano Chambers-Letson has written that “What allows the party, or a performance, to serve the will toward freedom and More Life is that another night beckons and that it can happen again. Performance artist Bimbola Akinbola, choreographer Erin Kilmurray, and theatermaker Derek Lee McPhatter have all worked with the museum previously, in part through the New Works Initiative, a set of programs for developing new performances to foster connection between artists, audiences, and communities. These two days of carefully crafted premieres and “first looks” at new performances showcase the vitality of Chicago’s performing artists in the city where they dwell-while also platforming them on the national stage. Despite references to previous records, those wishing to hear tracks from even Sauna let alone Wind’s Poem, Lost Wisdom, Ocean’s Roar, or any Microphones albums will just have to listen on their own to the sounds of someone who knew how to make art that was great but didn’t yet transcend its medium.I am thrilled to welcome you to MCA Chicago’s very first annual Chicago Performs series! Live, he will likely play songs only from Crow and Now Only. Overall, though, Elverum is a person and musician fundamentally changed by his wife’s death. Elverum’s learned that life is random, but on Now Only, he righteously declares that he’s important because of his daughter–not because of his own mythology. He’s got the most perspective on “Distortion”, recalling watching a documentary about Jack Kerouac bathing in his own mythology, drinking, ignoring his daughter. But what makes me think Elverum is moving forward is both actual references to “light” on the album but also candid, straightforward, and frank descriptions of death. 2′s “The Moon” that A Crow Looked At Me’s “Soria Moria” did. “Distortion” and “Earth”’s gruff guitars recall the black metal of Wind’s Poem. Opener “Tintin In Tebet” re-purposes the same melody from The Glow Pt. Over six songs, Elverum expands his andĬastrée’s story from the beginning until the empty end and gives a little indication of what the future will hold.įirst and foremost, the music: Like A Crow Looked At Me, it exists within the realm of his life as a member of The Microphones and Mount Eerie, but unlike its predecessor, its fuller aesthetic actually recalls some of those albums. The absurdity of Elverum’s situation–touring the record, still smack dab in the middle of grieving, all the while taking care of his daughter–is illustrated with equal color and tears on the new Now Only. An album that did not identify as art–in painstaking detail, it captured Elverum’s grieving process with regard to his late wife Geneviève Castrée–was nonetheless heralded as one of the finest pieces of art released last year, by critics and fans alike. ![]() Last year, it must have been weird for Phil Elverum to tour Mount Eerie’s A Crow Looked At Me. Mount Eerie Live Preview: 6/26, Thalia Hall, Chicago ![]()
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