Photos by Andrew Parks
When we heard that Ben Frost–easily one of our favorite ‘experimental’ acts at the moment, since he knows how to push things forward without losing the listener in a masturbatory haze–and Bora Yoon were presenting a special Church of the Ascension performance this week, self-titled sprinted to see the pair pull a Sunn O))) and “evoke site specific spirits.” And by that we mean the freaked-out feeling we had after a hymnal book from 1982 fell on our lap midway through their hour-long ( (( Phonation )) ) set. Apparently someone up there was a little miffed about tonight’s secular soundtrack of ghastly loops, clinical, chest-thumping beats and speakers pushed to the point of purified distortion. Us, well we dug everything but one ill-advised turn into singer/songwriter territory. Yoon’s voice is so gorgeous in the abstract that we prefer her wailing like a tormented soprano over standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus narratives.
Lots of photos after the jump. If you like what you see, be sure to see Yoon’s Frost-free gig at the Stone on December 5. (It will have “special visitors,” though.)
