Artscape/Exotic Hypnotic: Melissa Moore

Melissa Moore @ Artscape/Exotic Hypnotic, Langsdale Auditorium, July 21, 2007, Baltimore, MD

This set was a disappointment despite some promising elements. The ideas in this music seemed to be overwhelmed by gimmicks. The acoustic guitar playing, particularly when spare, could have worked on its own as an interesting performance. But it was fed through a massive digital delay and accompanied by strobe lights, a pulsating electronic drone with no intonational relevance to the chords being strummed and a plastic enclosed hammock that was somehow driving the pulsating drone. The electronic timbres were not interesting and after half an hour it was clear that these elements weren't about to gel into anything cohesive. And with a more interesting concert waiting across town at the Red Room I left this one early.