Recording: kat estacio

Artist: kat estacio

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 2), September 2, 2023.

kat estacio - [excerpt]

That particular Labour Day tradition returned once more this year — the Intersection Festival filling up the concrete plains of Yonge-Dundas Square with creative and adventurous music. As with last year's return from the pandemic pause, this was more stripped-back than in the "old days", with all of the music constrained to the big stage, which itself was a bit more cut off from the square by metal barricades. The square as a whole felt a little less, ah, pulsating than in the past — while there's still all sorts of random passers-by and carryings-on, the space felt a little more restrained overall. But on a mostly-beautiful day for standing around outside (with just one minor cloudburst to take the edge off the heat) the programming was mostly on-point, distracting a few people, chasing some away, and calling in a few in to take in the sounds.

It somehow felt appropriate that estacio's set coincided with that one episode of adverse weather, windbursts threatening to topple gongs while a sudden rain shower sent the audience looking for cover. But that was in sync with the music's tectonic grumbles, giving way to electronic buzzing that felt very much like the inherent sounds of this fabricated space.