Wearing a translucent white gown and intriguing jewelry, with two feathers facing horizontally on both sides of her nose, she resembled a glowing white cross, an angel, or a ghost. The draping fabric moved as gracefully as she did, slowly crossing the stage, moving up and down the stairs between the rows of seats, while she made intimate eye contact with each viewer. After each song though, she would return barefoot to her looping pedal, where she would craft the next one from scratch.

Hatis Noit brings a performance to the Mission Creek Festival that is steeped in her own, rich diverse experiences. These experiences include hearing Gregorian chants, along with the ones of Buddhist monks in Nepal. All these sounds inspired her music which aims to connect the natural aspects of the universe with the spirituality that can be found in humanity. The critically acclaimed Aura is the epitome of this concept, and she shared the experience of crafting these sounds with Iowa City.   

She shows the power and versatility of vocals in “Jomon”, looping an intense, heartbeat like burst of air to give a consistent drum sound. Her voice is full and strong, making for an invigorating sound throughout. The transition to “Angelus Novus”, however, brought the audience to an entirely timeless holy place, with those sounds reminiscent of Gregorian chants, whispers of prayers, and the humming of monks.

As she neared the end of her performance, Hatis Noit described the inspiration for “Inori” as the widespread, collective pain from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. In this song, she introduced her recording of the ocean near the Fukushima power plant, the only element of pre-recorded audio throughout the concert, and the only non-vocal sounds. She lamented those lost and those who longed to go back home, before transforming these powerful emotions into ever more powerful vocals. Her closing song, “Sir Etok”, meaning ‘the end of the Earth’, brought a feeling of being lost deep in nature among far stronger forces. Her loud cries, filled with an intense collective emotion, faded into silence, and she smiled to thank the audience.

Following the performance, she stood by her merchandise table to talk to those who wished to speak with her. When asked which song on the album was her favorite, she appeared surprised, as if she had never considered it. Her answer was both the opening and closing tracks of Aura, but it raises the question of what criteria could possibly be used to rank such abstract expressions of deep emotion.

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On Friday, April 3rd, I had the amazing opportunity to see Carter Logan and Jim Jarmusch of the New York trio SQURL, perform an original live score to several short films by avant-garde filmmaker, Man Ray. The screening, which sold out in less than a minute, was truly a special experience.

Man Ray, an American spending most of his career in France, was a painter, fashion designer, and photographer, who also created films. The particular films shown at FilmScene were from the 1920’s, and featured some of his most Dada and Surrealist-influenced works. The films focused on imagery of the mechanical, the reflective, and the uncanny, all tied together by fractured and half-coherent narratives.

Jim Jarmusch, front man of SQURL, provided the guitar work for the score, along with Logan’s percussion. Jarmusch is an accomplished filmmaker himself, perhaps best known for 2013’s Only Lovers Left Alive. I knew that a live score, particularly with him at the helm, would be captivating to watch. When creating a live score, at times it can be musically restrictive to have to follow along with the narrative of the film. Man Ray’s work provided a much more freeing and expressive framework for SQURL, and  to watch Jarmusch, as both a filmmaker and a musician, interact and react with the film was fascinating.

The screening was far more than a SQURL concert with a film being played in the background. The score was entirely original for the films, and featured droning guitars and layered loops to create a complex and dizzying wall of sound. Never daring to make too extreme a shift in sound and distract from the film, SQURL melted into the images and provided the perfect soundtrack without overshadowing them.

The sold-out, yet intimately small crowd at FilmScene, was on their feet at the end of the performance, and as I exited the theater I felt that it was one of the most enjoyable and memorable musical experiences of my life. Jarmusch, with his unique knowledge of both film making and music,  was the perfect choice to create a live score for a film, and he’ll be a fascinating figure to watch as he continues to create films and music into his 60’s.

You can stay up-to-date on all things SQURL at their website here.

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