Levitation Review: Escape-ism

“You know what would be really psychedelic?” offered D.C. mainstay Ian Svenonius late Sunday night inside Beerland. “If you could get away from advertising, real estate development. That would be trippy. If you could get away from condominiums, live-in work spaces. If you could get away from real estate speculation. That would be mind altering.”

A mere 26 hours after walking on a dancefloor of human hands fronting crunch soul brothers the Make-Up, Svenonius completed his Levitation double duty as Escape-ism, a culture warring solo project of technoid protest rock that he launched last year.

“Build a wall. Make it tall. Make it long. Make it strong. Make it stout. Keep them out. Keep us in,” he recited on the socially significant “Iron Curtain,” a highlight from must-have 2017 debut LP Introduction to Escape-ism.

Musically caveman-like, artistically arresting, and fiercely originally in presentation, Escape-ism finds the sinewy 50ish rocker dressed to the 8’s, queuing up backing tracks on an old drum machine and an array of tape decks, while grasping a slender microphone that he kept in his left palm as he interjected Link Wray riffs on his Sears & Roebuck six-string. Often compared to Suicide, on Sunday Escape-ism more closely resembled a charming distillation of vintage, weirdo-rock 45s and minimalist punk with the effective simplicity of folk.

After gold-stamping his own celebrity with the tongue-in-check “Lonely at the Top,” the ex-Nation of Ulysses frontman unleashed his best song, “Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day,” in which his cold croon lays atop an electronic recycling of the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” That tower-toppling single reminds us that brilliant songwriting often comes when an artist rallies around a singular clever line.

Talk of Rome sparked back to excellent local openers Kay Odyssey, whose frontwoman Kristina Boswell – dressed in a toga and sandals – imbues ancient mythology into her songs of love and empowerment. Later, Svenonius dedicated a song to another antiquated group: record collectors.

“For a record to be rare, it must fail. It has to spend some time in the wilderness,” he offered before launching into non-album cut “The Lost Record,” which is sung from the ingenious perspective of a scarce slab of vinyl.

Escape-ism, which had the 75-strong-and-vocal audience rolling and rapt, served as an ideal closing ceremony for Levitation 2018. It stood as one of the weekend’s smaller shows, but also one of its very finest and most memorable.