Dorothea Paas / Eliza Niemi / Christina Bell at Into the Abyss
Schedule
Fri Jun 02 2023 at 08:00 pm
Location
Into the Abyss | Hamilton, ON
Advertisement
Join us for an enchanted night, featuring 3 sweet souls who will surely stir up some special feelings within the depths of your being.DOROTHEA PAAS
ELIZA NIEMI
CHRISTINA BELL
June 2 2023
Into the Abyss, 267 King St. East, Hamilton ON
$15/NOTAFLOF
Into the Abyss is located on the ground level and is wheelchair accessible. There is one accessible washroom in the venue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DOROTHEA PAAS
Anything Can’t Happen is the long-awaited debut album from Dorothea Paas, one of Canada’s most beloved singer-songwriters. For over a decade, Paas has played her unique, prismatic style of folk songcraft for audiences across North America, and lent her talents as a guitarist and vocalist to artists like Jennifer Castle, U.S. Girls and Badge Epoque Ensemble. The songs on this album have been through a near-infinite number of forms – Paas has played them solo and with a full band, electric and acoustic, at house shows and in sold-out venues. they manage to fit inside each context, like water taking the shape of its container.
All of this makes Anything Can’t Happen feel far more mature and complex than a debut album. It’s a statement of purpose, a next step in a decade-long process of artistic growth and evolution, and a bridge between the DIY style of Paas’s previous cassette releases and a more refined studio sensibility. Recorded in studios in Hamilton and Toronto, and mixed by Max Turnbull of Badge Epoque and U.S. Girls and Steve Chahley, these songs bring a diverse range of musical influences into conversation: inflected with the layered reverberations of Grouper, shot through with the piercing harmonies of the Roches, electrified with the searing energy of Sonic Youth. You can hear Neil Young in the grittiness of the title track’s guitar; Joni Mitchell’s Hejira in the album’s lyrics, Fairport Convention in Paas’s voice. The influence of Stevie Wonder - one of Paas’s greatest musical role models - is present too, in the album’s conceptual foundations. - Emma Healey
https://dorotheapaas.bandcamp.com/
ELIZA NIEMI
Our earliest exposures to music can often be the most formative. For Toronto-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eliza Niemi, that influence came from her Dad who taught her the basics of bass and guitar at home. These childhood experiences of playing music together by ear fostered the sense of playfulness that she’s approached her craft with ever since. They also instilled an ethic in her creative work that prioritizes making music with friends and loved ones.
Those honed guitar —and later piano, cello and vocal— skills make Eliza an ideal collaborator: starting in Halifax’s rich music scene with the mid-2010s experimental pop groups New Love Underground and Mauno, and later in her role supporting artists Le Ren, Quaker Parents and Evan J. Cartwright. Through the rhythms of touring and the brilliant spark that's shared in musical exchange, Eliza found and developed connections across Canada's DIY music communities. These collaborative moments fuel her creative practice, whether playing solo, in an ensemble or releasing others’ music as the founder of her own label, Vain Mina Records.
Connection and collaboration lives in the intimacy of her albums, starting with 2019’s Vinegar, an understated set of songs for cello, keyboard and voice that wander with a comforting grace. 2020’s Glass furthered Eliza’s reputation for writing songs that are boundless and experimental without ever being alienating. There’s an open, inviting quality throughout the record, apparent from the close-miked instruments, to her softly sung and affable lyrics that unfold like a conversation with a good friend.
Her latest album, Staying Mellow Blows, furthers these ideas and aesthetics to a staggering degree, retaining the candor, humor and emotional humility she’s known for, while letting the vast number of supporting musicians shape each song with their own emotionally resonant performances. The result feels whimsical and inspired, and is the sound of an artist flourishing.
https://elizaniemi.bandcamp.com/
CHRISTINA BELL
A solid rock of the Canadian arts scene, Christina has charmed us all in her many pursuits over the years, and her solo musical output is no different. Christina's music is as compelling and genuine as her overflowing personality, and she's the perfect person to round out this beautiful evening of music!
https://christinabellmusic.bandcamp.com
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Into the Abyss, 267 King St East,Hamilton,ON,CanadaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
