WESTERN FRONT – Concert by Phew and Piu

Description:

Western Front presented a performance by Phew as part of her Canadian tour, with support from Vancouver Island-based electronic musician Piu.

To open the evening, Piu presented her expansive soundscapes with hard-hitting synth riffs, raga-inspired vocals, and global rhythms. A lifelong student of Indian classical music, Piu’s set drew from the emotive forces of minimalism and the frontiers of modern electronic sounds.

Following an intermission, Phew performed an hour of recent compositions and improvisations. Channeling the power of analogue synthesized sounds and the human voice, her set incorporated samples, vocal processing, and electronic effects.

Curated by Aki Onda.

Presented in partnership with Arts in the Margins, Montréal; Debaser, Ottawa; send + receive festival, Winnipeg; Strangewaves, Hamilton; The Music Gallery, Toronto; and Western Front, Vancouver, with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, and SOCAN Foundation.

Piu vocalizes into a microphone from behind a laptop and sound mixer with multicoloured cables in the Grand Luxe Hall. A diffused blue light is cast onto the panelled white wall behind her while she is spotlit.

Piu is spotlit from behind a laptop and sound mixer with multicoloured cables in the Grand Luxe Hall. She brings a microphone up to her open mouth and grabs a knob on the mixer with three fingers, looking off into the distance. A diffused blue light is cast onto the panelled white wall behind her.

Piu vocalizes into a microphone with her eyes calmly closed and mouth relaxedly hung open. She is spotlit, with some of the light catching on the wooden theatre chairs of the Grand Luxe Hall folded up against the wall. The room is dark except for this leak of light and the diffused blue light is cast onto the panelled white wall behind her.

Phew stands behind a table covered by knobs, cables, and a laptop with her hands crossed over one another, touching the tabletop objects. She looks down at her hands through her glasses sitting at the tip of her nose. She is lit by a dim laptop screen and a soft red light that is diffused within the Grand Luxe Hall.

Phew stands behind a table covered by sound mixers, cables, and a laptop with one palm raised in the air with all fingers falling forward. A diffused red light shines above her head, highlighting the edges of the technology on the table. Her downwards gaze casts a green shadow of her headworn microphone onto her shoulder.

Phew is lit by a soft red light in the darkened Grand Luxe Hall. The light defines the edges of bodies occupying the front rows of the audience. Bent over the technology covered table in front of her, Phew’s short hair falls forward, obscuring her face.

Phew vocalizes into a microphone fixed by a stand to a technology covered table in front of her. She looks straight ahead as a red light contours her left side and diffuses across the panelled wall behind her.

Related People

Aki Onda (Curator)

Captions:

Concert by Phew and Piu, video documentation, Oct 19, 2024. 1 hr. 33 min. 17 sec. Camera by Qiuli Wu.
Piu performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Piu performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Piu performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Phew performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Phew performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Phew performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Phew performing at Western Front, photo documentation, Oct 19, 2024. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.

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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.