For three nights in a row, the lights dimmed in The CoPA Glassbox Theater. The audience grew hushed as experimental vocalist and composer Du Yun and her band walked down the aisle, single-file, to the stage. Against a backdrop of thick, red-velvet curtains, the ensemble began to set up their instruments.
On Friday, Sept. 6, Raven Chacon backed Du Yun on the electronic synthesizer and Ryan Muncy played the saxophone. On Sunday, Sept. 8, the backing band, OK Miss, featured Aakash Mittal (flute, saxophone), Nich Olas Farrell (bass), Grey McMurray (electric guitar), and Shayna Dunkleman (drums). Du Yun contributed vocals for both nights.
The Stone Presents at the New School is a non-profit performance space for avant-garde artists to curate their own work. The house manager, Rachel Housle, explained how the featured artists are chosen for each show. “The artists are handpicked by John Zorn, the artistic director for The Stone,” said Housle, “The artists are encouraged to have a variety every night with their curation.”
On Friday night, sitting in the audience celebrating her 74th birthday was Rena Gill, who has been a fan of experimental music since the 1970’s. She recalled seeing Zorn’s performances over three decades ago, when he began to experiment by composing music with objects. “I had heard about the performances through friends and I was hoping that they were going to start up the program again,” Gill said. When asked if she was familiar with Du Yun, Gill told the Free Press, “I’m not familiar with them, but I’m sure whatever I hear tonight will be interesting, and unlike anything I’ve heard.”
With an eccentric and dynamic set, Du Yun’s performance was unlike anything most attendees had ever heard. From the start of the show, Chacon and Muncy began to play their respective electronic instruments and saxophone, and it was clear that the audience was about to embark on an ever-changing musical journey. With sharp, staccato saxophone beats lacking consistency, the first piece sounded like a beautiful chaos. The effect made many audience members lean forward in their seats just to keep up. The composition was filled with fast build-ups and equally exciting declines.
By the end of her set, Du Yun produced heart-wrenching, resounding notes from her throat, making the crowd feel as if there was a tornado of noise in the room. With her unpredictability and usage of surprise, Du Yun as a performance artist captivated her audience, leaving them at the edge of their seats. Her arms were raised and shaking as she sung a powerful and haunting melody.
On Sunday night, Du Yun performed a wide variety of musical pieces. One minute, the space was enveloped in a slow, soft song, but within the next minute, chaos ensued. Instantaneously, every member of the band went berserk. Du Yun began jumping up and down, banging the keyboard while Mittal’s face grew red– his eyes bulging, his fingers going wild. Each band member maintained independence, while somehow managing to cultivate some sense of coherence.
This concept reigned true through all of Du Yun’s songs, as she mimicked the influence of jazz music on Chinese melody within her song about modern “Mongolian dating,” and in her “metal” song. While playing the latter, she let out animalistic shrieks as her band members matched her expression of sadness and anger through their own art.
The guitarist of OK Miss, McMurray, said of Du Yun’s avant-garde sound, “There’s a certain innocence that is trying to reveal itself to be more sinister than it is. There is no illusion of making a track be anything other than what it is– it feels like a collage aesthetic overrun by emotional interaction.”
After Friday night’s show, Du Yun herself told the Free Press, “I work with a variety of different styles like opera, written-down music, and noise. So, what you heard today is very different from what you are going to hear in tomorrow’s set. There is more pop as opposed to the noise and yelling from today.”
The Stone is a place for musicians to perform freely and for Du Yun, in many ways, it was “cathartic.” CoPA will continue to house performances from The Stone Presents, which take place Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are available to the general public for $20. Admission is free for New School students.
