Mutek day one highlights (James Holden, Billy Delassandro & Ombossa, and Boundary)

MUTEK
2015-27-15

After weeks of waiting, that warm summer air has finally returned, just in time to welcome an influx of artists and musicians visiting from various cities across the globe. They’re here for Montreal’s own Electronic Music and Arts festival, Mutek.

Yesterday, at long last, the festival dawned, and here are the highlights from NOCTURNE 1, Mutek’s opening evening hosted at Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporian.

James Holden

Weaving through the MAC brings a plethora of surprises that appear oddly at home in such an usually pristine space: kitschy picnic tables’ set up indoors, an installation that consists of broken glass spread across the floor, screens that spontaneously flash bright white and dimly lit hallways with red lights to guide each festivalgoer. Though the most noticeable clue that hints in the direction of a hidden room would have to be the bass, booming loud and proud from somewhere close by.

At the end of the rabbit hole, one finds the stage. Last night. James Holden stood upright, his custom built synth sitting pretty alongside an excess of various other toys. A live drummer, placed directly facing Holden, beat the skins with force. Behind them, a screen streamed a loop of monochromatic patterns that felt both jarring and soothing at the same time.

Holden’s music is impulsive and shifting, moving between genres spontaneously. His set rose and fell; songs began in hushed tones with simple synth melodies and beats. Slowly, they built into a disarray of sounds that ebbed and flowed through the crowd. At first, it was difficult to tell if Holden was keeping time, if everything would line up, if cohesion would arrive. Then the climax comes: a saxophone sample blares free jazz, symbols clatter at an ungodly speed, and then, electronic rhythms gently fold into the mix. The crowd wasn’t quite sure how to dance to it, but that did not seem to matter much. There was plenty of movement; people were definitely feeling what Holden was dishing out.

Billy Delassandro & Ombossa presents BOOMERS

As one stumbled downstairs, the familiar smell of weed stealthily seeped into the senses. The basement room at the MAC was serene, the floor filled with bodies, spread wide, maxed out and relaxing while starring up at a wall-to-wall screen. On screen, flora and fauna bled into sand and dessert rocks were displayed in muted pastel tones. Manuel Bossard’s psychedelic film was reminiscent of 90’s glitch-art, and worked without flaw to set the room’s placid ambience. The live visuals coincided with the modern electro-acoustic soundtrack that producer Billy Delassandro handcrafted. His music is creepy in a child-like, dreamscape, music-box-esque kind of way. BOOMERS had the two artists working in tandem, delving deep into the unconscious to expand the mind. Delassandro’s sound touched on tech house, down tempo and classical music, while Bossard’s visual landscape twinkled and pulsed in time. The synchronization of their two media’s transported the viewer to a place far beyond the four walls they were surrounded by.

Boundary 

Although the crowd had significantly thinned out since James Holden, those left were committed to the dance floor during Boundary’s performance. Local Montreal electro-pioneer Ghislain Poirier leads the three-piece setup, and it is clear he boasts a solid fan base. Alongside him was drummer Chris Olsen and keyboardist Daniel Thouin. Boundary hypnotized the audience with their deep and resonating melodies. Their music is hallucinatory, yet melancholic; a heavy sound that pulls something out from the dark depths of the listener. Kaleidoscopic visuals morphed behind them, and then an Antarctic wasteland came into view, illustrated in deep purples and vivid blues. The audience was enchanted, eyes fixed forward, swaying. Worth noting was the lack of visible cellphone screens. Instead, everyone was actually listening, or more so, feeling the music. It’s clearly a sign that Boundary knows the right moves to use in order to captivate a crowd.

Stay tuned for more Mutek coverage over the coming days. Mutek continues through May 31 at various venues throughout the city. For tickets and the complete schedule, visit www.mutek.org.