Recording: John Wiese

Artist: John Wiese

Song: [last section]

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Prepare the Ground Festival – Day 3), June 1, 2025.

John Wiese - [last section]

Prepare the Ground closed out its stay at 918 Bathurst by presenting a full-on noise show on Sunday, culminating in some abrasive sounds from harsh noise walls architect The Rita. Along the way came this abrasive modular set from L.A.'s John Wiese. Very spiky sonics predominated, quiet slurps punctuated by stereophonic percussion bursts. At one level, that gave this the aura of a sort of malicious cartoon foley, but closer attention showed there were some interesting formal choices being made — mostly in constraining the set of source-sounds to create some hypnotically-pulverizing nonlinear repetitions.

Recording: Ora Cogan & Ester Thunander

Artist: Ora Cogan & Ester Thunander

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Prepare the Ground Festival – Day 2), May 31, 2025.

Ora Cogan & Ester Thunander - unknown

Under its "heavy" rubric, the Prepare the Ground Festival managed to find some space for some sidebar genres, such as bringing some doom-folk sounds into the reverberant churchy sanctuary at 918 Bathurst. A cue for where this set would be heading was the opening invitation for the audience to lie down on the floor — an invitation partially accepted as most of the thin crowd were soon at least sitting in the area in front of the stage. Ora Cogan and Ester Thunander were seated on the stage floor themselves, mics tilted down and violins and guitars near at hand. I was a bit familiar with Cogan, having seen her perform a good while back, but it was quite satisfying to see her here unencumbered from rhythm or songshape to lean entirely into some beautiful atmospherics. Sweden's Ester Thunander was an apt partner here, expanding the ghostly space with voice and fiddle.

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

Recording: Jaye Jayle

Artist: Jaye Jayle

Song: Cemetery Rain

Recorded at 918 Bathurst (Prepare the Ground Festival – Day 2), May 31, 2025.

Jaye Jayle - Cemetery Rain

Evan Patterson was in town for the Prepare the Ground Festival as part of Young Widows, but he also found time to play a surprise set in a solo incarnation of his Jaye Jayle project. Sitting down to deliver songs with just guitar and voice, the churchy reverb of the space served his swampy, folky tunes well.