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03/16/2023

The Shape of Minds to Come Tour at The Old Church, May 12th - Preview

By MATT HANSEN //  Tour showcasing a who's who of the experimental music scene finally gets it's PNW debut after being postponed in 2020

These days, it’s easy to feel like we’re living in some literary sci-fi world, the kind that could only be imagined into existence by a great mind like H.G. Wells. In ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ Wells’ vision for the future involves war, pandemic, and a long economic slump which, re-visiting in 2023, makes the prolific writer noticeably prophetic.

But the real strength of ‘Shape of Things’ is not its ability to see into the future, it’s the assertion that those who want to change society for the better will win out in the end.  And while the book isn’t a perfect prediction, it’s something we can look to in the hope of engineering a better tomorrow.

Taking a nod from the pages of sci-fi, The Shape of Minds to Come Tour is a concert series that aims to disrupt what we know about performance and save us from the doldrums of the traditional set-list format. Boasting a varied roster of multi-instrumentalists, the tour – which lands in Portland Friday May 12th – will attempt to answer the question: what happens when experimental brains collide in a live setting and improvise for you? If you have ever wondered this very thing, then your ship has come in.

Spearheaded by and featuring local PNW composer and sound engineer Scot Jenerik, the tour also features John Duncan, Schneider TM (Germany), and Chandra Shukla. ‘The Shape of Minds’ will include a collaboration of all four artists at the open and conclusion, with overlapping individual sections in the middle. Judging by the past work of each performer, the concert is sure to span various genres and time-signatures, including “adventurous electronic pop-music, drone and noise, and avant-garde.” 

With sheer unpredictability and intense sonic builds conceived right before your eyes, what better way to defy the tired concert construct than to travel to the world of electro-futurists? People will often pay far more than $20 (plus fees) for a trip that won’t be nearly as heady as this show promises to be.

ON TOUR: John Duncan, Schneider TM, Scot Jenerik, Chandra Shukla at The Old Church on Friday, May 12th, 2023. Doors 7:00PM / Show 8:00PM. Tickets. ALL AGES

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