Recording: Weaves

Artist: Weaves

Song: Closer

Recorded at SummerWorks – Lower Ossington Theatre Mainspace ("Weaves Through Time"), August 10, 2014.

Weaves - Closer

Full review to follow. Weaves' shows have been building up in spectacle and theatricality, so it was rather exciting to see things kicked up to the next level for this SummerWorks event, thanks to work by choreographer Allison Cummings and set designer Hanna Puley. With flower-creatures dangling from the ceiling, the environment suggested an earthy fecundity, while the strands extending from Jasmyn Burke's luminescent hoop-dress were like the hands of a giant timepiece — a biological clock, if you will, the stands getting just as entwined and wrapped up in each other as they do in our own lives. The accompanying dancers' motions suggested death and rebirth and by the end, the audience was called down from the stands to mix in freely with them.

Musically, the night was equally impressive, with the band mixing in even more new material than we've been hearing at recent shows. Guitarist Morgan Waters impressed as always, pulling out funky squawk-bursts that often doubled Burke's vocals. Perhaps appropriate to the environs, this felt like the birth — or the blooming — of something very vital. (And for those who like to track the growth of our local artists through time, this was a wonderful chance to compare how much things have changed since the previous time Burke played this very same room at SummerWorks, four years ago.)

[N.B.: Weaves will be playing Wavelength's free Island Show, this Sunday (Sept. 7th) at Artscape Gibraltar Point.]

Bonus! Here's some video footage to give you a sense of what was going on here beyond the musical element: