That pulsing hum coming from Someday last Tuesday was more than just Final Fantasy's flailing and looping of his violin and piano, it was the rhythmic buzz of a completely off the hook show. Toronto's acclaimed Final Fantasy, aka Owen Pallett, best known for his collaborations with Arcade Fire, howled and crooned onstage while bowing his violin with incendiary passion and looping lush layers together using old school guitar foot pedals. The show also featured visual accompaniment by the mind altering Stephanie Comulang, who mixes images live on an overhead-projector with handmade transparencies. Comulang sat like a conjurer over the projector, inflecting each moment with color and emotion while Pallett hypnotized the audience with haunting songs about D&D, cocks, and the politics of religion in the way only a gay Canadian violin virtuoso can. While most performers would opt to generate digital projections from a laptop with the flick of a mouse, Final Fantasy eschews technology in the interest of visceral performance. The result is a transcendent hallucination of stunning human beauty that left every artistic node in my brain supremely satisfied. After the show I tracked down Stephanie and showered her with an obscene amount of praise for completely blowing my mind. I approached Owen at the bar with the intention of showering him with similar praise, but he switched tracks seconds after I said 'great show' and started chatting with another enthusiastic audience member.
I waited patiently on the periphery of their conversation hoping to get a word in edgewise, but Owen was totally transfixed. It wasn't until I heard the other fan say: "great, then I'll send you the script next week," as he walked out the door, that I realized it was Gus Van Sant.
And that is precisely why I love Someday: because you never know who or what you're going to see, and absolutely anything is possible.
allenink.ws@gmail.com
[ www.allenink.ws : writing, research, photography--not necessarily in that order. ]
Monday, October 29, 2007
Final Fantasy Rocks Someday
Monday, July 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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