Shoemaker & Lopez

I am not sure performance is the right word for what I heard at Good Shepard last night. In both cases, the composers employed computers and other gear to produce sounds. While there were moments one might describe as awesome, I found myself having to endure most of the sounds that were made.

The first composer, Matt Shoemaker, a self-effacing presence (anti-presence?) on the stage seemed barely aware of the audience.
He sat at a simple table with a laptop and an array of other gear with cables draped around him. (There was little consideration to what this may look like to an audience. ) Despite his non-presence on the stage, he produced massive sounds - several times it seemed the entire building was about to lift-off. In moments, it reminded me of something Joseph Campbell speaks about - the sublime - that which is about prodigious power. These moments were surrounded by much that I would have to call 'noise'.

The second composer, Francisco Lopez went a step further and before his set, re-arranged all the seats in circles around him - but all facing outwards. And if I had any doubts that visual input was frowned on, they dissapeared when we were all issued black blindfolds and encouraged to use them. Whether one tied the blindfold on or not didn't matter much as the lights were turned off. (Had there been any light, I would have been sorely tempted to make a photograph of this curious scene.) Perhaps I was fatigued from enduring Shoemaker's set, but Lopez's work sounded like an action-film soundtrack with the dialogue and score removed. By the end of the evening, when the last of the sounds died away, the audience just sat there. I suspect that many were, like me, grateful for the silence we now sat in. None of us moved for a long time. After almost a full minute, the composer shuffled a bit, as if to indicate he was done. Still, none of us moved. Finally, he said, quietly, 'thank you.' And only then, as if prodded to, some of those in the audience began to applaud.

The audience will encircle the compser, facing away.

blindfolds