“A Historic Moment of Intense Grooviness:” Calvin Johnson, Maria de Hart, and Mouth Mouth at Wandering Goat
Concert Review by Anna Brown (DJ Alright)
The ethereal Mouth Mouth.
On Saturday, Nov. 17, The Wandering Goat coffee shop played host for two local, DIY driven Eugene events– the Euzine Fest, featuring zine media from across the country and Eugene, and the Euzine Fest After-party.
Maria de Hart is a duo consisting of Maria herself on guitar and vocals, and bassist Charlie, hailing from Corvallis and Albany, respectively. Maria’s lyrics are dreamy and soft, cushioned by guitar loops and quiet, interwoven bass lines. As Calvin Johnson explained later in the set, Maria’s name comes from the fact that “she sings her heart out… but it got shortened to ‘de Hart.’ People are lazy.”
“Can I sleep in your bed?/Can I wander through your head?” Maria de Hart at Wandering Goat. Note: images may be blurry on some devices. We’re working on getting that fixed ASAP!
Eugene local Mouth Mouth lit candles, placed gemstones among gear, and passed out black sleeping masks for a truly transcendental set. Mouth Mouth’s music is driven by pulsing drum loops and heavily affected vocals to create a comfortable, droning cocoon of sound. Texturally, the music ranges from poem recitation to AMSR-like sounds of crinkling paper to form a song’s rhythm (I’m assuming it was paper at least, I had a mask on for almost the entire set). It’s one of the few times I’ve seen (or rather, not seen) an artist eschew the visibility of performing a live set simply to play music, unseen, for nothing but the listening experience among a group.
Calvin Johnson was the last set of the night, and this show marked his second-to-last performance of a seven week long tour for his new album “A Wonderful Beast.” This album came out last month through his Olympia-based label, K Records. It’s nearly impossible not to dance at a Calvin Johnson show; his constant moving, dancing, or melodica playing for the entire duration of the set is infectious.
Calvin Johnson
Don’t fret if you missed any of these bands. Maria de Hart plays the HiFi Music Lounge in Eugene on Dec 7!
Check out the other bands here:
DJ Alright
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