Recording: The Visit

Artist: The Visit

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 3), September 2, 2017.

The Visit - unknown

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory. The day-long marathon in the concrete canyon of commerce remains at the festival's heart, though, exploring the frissons of experiencing strange and occasionally abrasive sounds competing with the city's mersh heartbeat.

Moving from the big stage to the loosely-delineated side stages, where passers-by could pretty much wander up and investigate the musicians at close range, Raphael Weinroth-Browne (cello) and Heather Sita Black (vox) continued to explore their elaborately-constructed, sprawling gothic song-castles.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

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

Recording: The Visit

Artist: The Visit

Song: Without This Flesh [part 1]

Recorded at Ratio, December 11, 2014.

The Visit - Without This Flesh [part 1]

This duo of Raphael Weinroth-Browne (cello) and Heather Sita Black (vox) brushes against several genres — as much art-song as pop-song, as close to chamber music as prog. Songs stretch out and become more of an enveloping experience than something you'll find yourself humming after. With pieces heading toward the quarter-hour mark, The Visit are unencumbered by any rockband constraints — but the closest thing that came to mind might be Kate Bush in a one-woman opera, or maybe locals Tasseomancy.

[Cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne will be playing in an altogether different context on Sunday (January 11th), joining kamanche player Shahriyar Jamshidi for a set of improvised music at Somewhere There's Second Sunday series at Array Space. Highly recommended!]