“I didn’t know I’d be between disco and De La Soul,” apologized electronic jazz composer Laura Misch.
In another unfortunate instance of sound issues disrupting a set, the South London experimentalist found herself between hip-hop and a hard place on Rainey Street at Lucille’s outdoor stage on Wednesday night. The Australia House, hosted by Laneway Festival and Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches, packed out a nice mix of Aussies and SXSW badgeholders still excited from Brooklyn pop act Charly Bliss.
The set began with a cascade of saxophone loops, Misch cloning herself to fight against the sound pollution. A skilled solo musician with electronic tendencies, her looping enhanced the sound rather than becoming reliant on it. Hip-hop boom-bap drums transformed into a slinky beat begging for a verse from a mid-Aught’s backpack rapper.
With so many live-sampling musicians at the festival it’s easy to disdain the trend, but Misch proved it works when musicianship comes first. Her secondary superpower turned out to multi-tasking. Stretching between a keyboard, sampler, saxophone, and vocals, she flexed on musicians who rely heavily on pre-recorded backing tracks.
The transition into quieter tunes with deep Timbaland-style kick and click production would’ve sounded thrilling in a dark underground room, but the noisy environment swallowed up Misch’s smoky voice. She improvised by adding drum loops under the more ambient tunes. Although the crowd supported the move, it wasn’t a solution, and she apologetically ended her set 15 minutes early.
Her mic was too soft to even understand much of the apology.
Thankfully justice will be done: Saturday she closes out the Townsend, a sleeper pick for best sounding venue of the festival.
Laura Misch
Wednesday, March 13, 12am, LucilleThis article appears in March 8 • 2019.