Recording: Wrekmeister Harmonies

Artist: Wrekmeister Harmonies

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Geary Lane ("Sound Séance I": Night 3), June 14, 2015.

Wrekmeister Harmonies - unknown

The culmination of Geary Lane's year-long journey, the inaugural version of this event overcame some bureaucratic hurdles to present a weekend-long showcase of a non-corporate alternative to the city's increasingly-crowded festival calendar. Tucked away in its little pocket on the other side of the tracks, Geary Lane does feel a little off the grid but works well as an conceptual island getaway for sonic adventurers. Partnered with Suoni Per Il Popolo, the "name" draws skewed a bit toward une certaine esthétique de Montréal but each night did include cool local sounds as well. Vibe-wise, Sunday's final show of the festival came up the middle between Friday's chill drones and Saturday's Big Rock Show, with many in the crowd sitting on the floor of the stage area in front of the bands throughout. Throw in the fab afternoon events and this was a great weekend, showing off what can be done when the community has access to a space like Geary Lane. Hopefully this will indeed only be the first of a new annual local tradition.

With side-long postrock compositions, rotating membership and a general air of mystery, this Chicago-based musical collective (under the leadership of JR Robinson) looks to have evolved along similar lines to Montréal's Godspeed You! Black Emperor. That made it no surprise, then, to see this new (and temporary?) reformulation with three of GY!BE's members (Thierry Amar, Sophie Trudeau, Tim Herzog) in the fold. With Tarr-esque deliberation, in an hour-long set the quintet tackled only three songs (or, possibly, three parts of a larger suite), with long, slow swells building up to slightly-menacing mountainous slabs.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!