A CINEMATIC DOUBLE FEATURE WITH JHEREK BISCHOFF & MIRAH

A month ago I had no intention of seeing this show. I attended the Music of David Bowie Tribute at Radio City Music Hall and saw a lot of great interpretations of Bowie’s work. It was Jherek Bischoff, alongside Amanda Palmer, Anna Calvi, and The Kronos Quartet, who blew me away when they did a rousing picturesque version “Blackstar” off of his last album and got one of the few boisterous standing ovations of the evening. After the show I looked into each one of their current calendar and knew I couldn’t miss Jherek playing a show in such an intimate venue.

Mirah & Jherek

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The whole evening’s musical landscape felt like it crawled off the movie screen. Jherek’s set contained frightening otherworldly noises that came from deep within his soul and couldn’t be contained any longer and leapt out at the audience, the kind of music you could hear in a thriller, sci-fi, or horror movie. Mirah’s set contained more melodic pieces that could be heard throughout western, foreign, or indie movies. The amount of styles covered through the night was impressive considering it was the same band that played all evening. The string quartet was absolutely stunning. Ferociously moving their bows in synch with one another and Jherek’s conducting hand, they played with such force that your mind couldn’t help but conjure up a picture to go along with what they were playing.

Mirah & Jherek

Jherek’s set also contained some new music that will be out this summer. One of the songs, “The Sea’s Son” was inspired by a boating excursion he was on where the sky was nothing but stars and the wind was calm. There were no waves in the ocean and the horizon met up with the water and made him feel as if he was floating in space. The way he captured this moment in his life with this song was by far the musical highlight of the evening. The song is a slow burn and when closing your eyes while listening to it, you can’t help but feel as if you are floating amongst the stars as well.

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A well placed beautiful rendition of Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” near the end of the set let him pay tribute to The Thin White Duke and give a shout out to Amanda Palmer who was just there to enjoy the music. Mirah told some funny stories during her set about Disco Balls and remaking a Robyn video. Watching her getting lost in her own music and it taking over her whole body was a treasure to see. There isn’t much of the tour left, but if these two get back together for another go around do yourself a favor and get out there. Any lover of music is bound to get lost inside of the music that these musicians display.