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APR 06 Constellation Chicago, IL Tickets

The Star Tribune’s music critics rated 53 music venues in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, and just missing the Top 5, the Cedar Cultural Center. Still they were given a special nod:

There’s not a warmer music room in town. The wood floors, lamplit lighting, bench-lined walls, friendly volunteer staff, granola-ish concessions and even the simple offering of free coat racks all contribute to its comfortable aesthetic.

We wholeheartedly agree, and last night’s show highlights what the venue does best: feature acts that are normally not found on the musical circuit.

Opening the evening was Zack Baltich, a musical composer and percussionist from Duluth, MN. Surrounded by vibraphone, drums, synths and samplers he started off with a piece he created in collaboration with ARENA Dances before talking about his collaboration with the Cedar, which helped commission his album ingress:passage.

Baltich then highlighted his latest album Estuary before moving on to a new piece that was inspired by recordings of his grandparents playing in a polka band.

After a brief intermission, the members of Flore Laurentienne quietly sauntered onto stage and took their seats. It wasn’t the usual set up for a musical group: a trio of violins and cello to the left, the percussionist/samplerist in the center, and off to the right, their leader and creator, Mathieu David Gagnon, surrounded by a bank of keyboards.

Gagnon is from Quebec and the name of his musical enterprise is the namesake of an inventory documenting the St. Lawrence Valley flora.

How best to describe his music? One could call it technicolor soundscapes or electronically infused classical music. What Gagnon attempts is to capture the rugged wilderness of his home and the beauty of the changing landscape.

“We’re from Canada,” said Gagnon. “We’re friends.”

Before, that was understood. But with the current political climate, maybe that will be the new introduction for bands from our northern border.

Gagnon kept his remarks brief. He asked the crowd if they knew about the Baroque compositional technique, the Fugue, and wondered what J.S. Bach would think of adding a few synthesizers. From there, a pretty straight forward beginning as each string instrument stated the theme before moving into a polyphonic direction. Then the synths, at first supporting the strings, then stretching out and slowing the pace before taking over, as the strings faded then reentered with pizzicato counters, with drums and percussion picking up the pace to send the ending to an expressive finish.

Gagnon again picked up the mic, but… “Not much to say.” He had a new song and it sounded like a moment in time on one of the Great Lakes with waves crashing from a percussive summer storm, soon followed by the dappling of light across calm waters.

Gagnon said they had one last show in the United States and wondered out loud if he pronounced “Chicago” correctly. It was clear his English was secondary, but behind a bank of keyboards is a sound that is universal, especially the last song of the evening from his latest album 8 tableaux.

“La nuit bleue” (The Blue Night) is an ethereal piece that weaves in and out one’s consciousness much like a dream and seemed the perfect ending to an evening filled with beautifully evocative music.