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Vancouver East Cultural Centre January 22, 2000 The first show of this two-night residency was over-sold by about 100 tickets and the surplus audience was forced to sit in the sizable floor-space between seats and stage. This must have caused some problems for The Peggy Lee Band who used this no-man's-land as their performance space. On the second night, at least, this arrangement created a feeling of three-dimensional intimacy, particularly, as the band shunned the house PA, preferring to play only through their own amps. The band themselves are a motley collection of composers and improvisers who have come together (mostly) to play cellist Lee's open-ended New Music compositions. Post-rock in spirit, if not in sound, they use the small, informal, electronically amped and processed ensemble format of rock to create shifting, multi-layered music which is distinctly "post-". Their juxtaposition of complex composed passages with jagged sections of free improvisation is uncompromising but oddly accessible in its sensuality. Judging by audience response, the may well have won some converts, not only to their own music but to contemporary classical and imrov generally. This suggests that despite the kooky-female-singer-songwriter image that Veda Hille has been lumbered with, her fans are more attracted to her colourful piano playing, unconventional harmony, subtle electronic textures and compositional sophistication than her superficial similarity to Tori Amos. Which leaves her with a problem: how to reproduce these subtleties in a live setting? Veda's performances as part of a four-piece rock band suggest a Sonic Youth you can take home to meet your mum. For the residency, though, she employed a revolving cast of musicians (including Peggy Lee) which allowed the more varied instrumental colour of her recorded work to shine through. The potentially neutering politeness of this setting was counteracted by the febrile intensity and heady emotionalism of her material and delivery. Unfortunately, the accompanying art projections looked scrappy/shoddy in comparison to the lush nature of the musical entertainment and were often downright distracting. Still, Veda's performance packed a punch that quite belied by her diminutive, unassuming appearance and so the forces of good triumphed. Top |
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