Pygmalion Preview - 9/23
So, Pygmalion Festival kicks off tomorrow, September 23, and I've unexpectedly been enlisted to let you know what's up on the musical side of the first day. Given the short notice of the assignment, I'm just sort of getting my first listens from the two acts slated to perform tomorrow as I write, so below are some quick (i.e. not wholly comprehensive or all encompassing so feel free to notice and like other things about these groups) hits and highlights for why I think these shows are going to be worth my while, which should hopefully help inform your decision to see what's going on or not.The first slot, at 8:30, features an hour of Big Scary, an Australian indie-pop duo that's quickly gaining traction on an international scale, and its easy to see why listening to their latest LP, Not Art. What immediately jumps out is that this is a group with some serious skill in producing rich atmospheres to surround their well-crafted tunes if they please, be it through electronic or more traditionally rock-based means. The set seems to be a sonically promising one, and as someone who frames his musical taste in a fashion that allows him to use the word 'sonic' way more often than is tolerable, that's something that certainly excites this makeshift writer.
Urbana-based Feral States fashion themselves as a group of “classical and jazz musicians that play experimental orchestral rock” (literally taking that description from their bandcamp.com page). What exactly does all of that mean? Well, it means a second act that tickles my pretentious fancy. More specifically, while committing themselves to the rock paradigm, Feral States draw upon their sophisticated, refined backgrounds to meld compositional complexity and instrumental diversity into the more familiar rock format. The result, as evidenced on the recent EP, Dark, is a group with the creative and dynamic chops to pack a hell of a live punch while never failing to intellectually engage its audience. They're set to take the stage at 10:00 for an hour long set that shouldn't be missed.