Jeffrey Zeigler Presents:
Touch/Feel
Saturday, March 4th @ 10pm
About the Show
While working in the group Superhuman Happiness, the three of us ( Stuart Bogie, Dia Luna, and Eric Biondo) explored bright harmonies and driving polyrhythms, which became the group’s signature sound, but when we began writing music together for the next record, we found a door to the other side, a musical shadow world. Darker melodies, harmonies, and slower heavier rhythms emerged, and we discovered a musical vocabulary for the range of emotion that was the inverse of Superhuman Happiness. We wrote lyrics that deal with death, destruction, and transformation not from the perspective of mourning, but as a necessary aspect of the cycle of existence, borrowing from sources like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Tarot, and re-runs of Unsolved Mysteries. As the political tides shifted in November 2016, our work gained a new urgency and we committed to launching TOUCH/FEEL”
We enlisted producer/multi-instrumentalist Ian Hersey (formerly of Rubblebucket) and percussionist Bryan Bisordi to join the group. They bring a rough edge to the rhythms that make the music feel raw and alive, and more like chamber music in the sense that we are playing to each other and striving to engage each other like a string quartet would – without backing tracks or whatever to regulate the music to a clock. We smash clocks. The result is TOUCH/FEEL.
TOUCH/FEEL performs experimental pop with a chamber music sensibility. Driving and raw dance rhythms, elegant melodic phrases, and an engaging dynamic move the audience from gentle meditations to head banging emotional workouts. Drawing inspiration from early Peter Gabriel records, Sade, the Kronos Quartet, Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Kraftwerk, the group comes to formation behind the dark vocals of alto Dia Luna, who serves as the high priestess for the unfolding ritual of their performances. Processed drums, filtered bass guitar, analog synthesizers, saxophone, flute and trumpet all combine to orchestrate an abstract narrative that takes the audience through nine specific movements – variously incorporating dancers, composition, structured improvisation, and performance art.
About the Artists
Dia Luna
Dia Luna – (Voice, Percussion) Born in Sacramento, CA, Dia Luna studied painting at NYU and quickly became a part of the vibrant art and music scene in New York. Her voice has graced opera houses, dive bars, protests, and festivals across the United States. She collaborates regularly with Joe McGinty ( Psychedelic Furs, Loser’s Lounge) as half of their original cabaret project, The Duchess and the Fox. She has been the lead vocalist of Superhuman Happiness for the past three years, and now has turned her creative force towards TOUCH/FEEL.
Stuart Bogie
Stuart Bogie – (Woodwinds, Synths, Voice) Born in Evanston, IL Bogie studied music at the Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Michigan. He has composed music for film and commercials, including scoring the Oscar Nominated How To Survive A Plague. Bogie was the featured saxophone soloist in the original cast for the Broadway musical Fela! and has worked as a performer and arranger with dozens of artists and groups including Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine, TV on the Radio, Angelique Kidjo, Sharon Van Ettan, Cass McCombs, Autre Ne Veut, Butch Morris, and for 15 years (and counting) the group Antibalas. He founded the group Superhuman Happiness in 2008, and they have released 4 records together.
This performance was sponsored in part by the Village Voice.
