Roslyn Moore and Scarlett Taylor command attention at the Icehouse

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Sometimes you stumble on some very cool performers purely by accident while trying to find something, heck anything, about another artist I was writing a preview for I noticed a show that was listed for that evening it mentioned dark (not something you see a lot at the Icehouse) and that interested me enough to look at more details and check out the videos of the performers Roslyn Moore and Scarlett Taylor. Whoa! Cool music, and right up my alley! A quick look at my schedule and an e-mail later and I was confirmed for last night’s show.

First up was Scarlett Taylor who took to the stage in a long cape complete with hood revealing herself in dramatic fashion during the first song. Her sound and stage presence has goth / dark wave influences with ambient and dream pop elements woven in. There’s a certain breathless quality to her voice and the synth heavy background moved from dramatic for “I Can Fly” to quite lively for “Children of the Sun”.

After a short break (the same band was backing up both singers) Roslyn Moore came on stage and it was a study in contrasts. From leather, metal, and high boots to soft, flowing cotton and bare feet. Moore was introduced a a singer to be listened to while watching Quentin Tarantino movies – and it became clear how good a description that after the first few chords of music. The guitar parts of her songs, draw your attention, there was interesting instrumentation like some well placed trumpet parts (on synth) and even without visuals her voice pulls you in. Add to that her stage presence and you got a winner. Her hand crunching up her dress, her eyes, and on some songs and almost childlike vulnerability.  Her performance would be perfectly in place in a Twin Peaks episode.

All in all, I am very happy I played a hunch on 2 promising artists I was not familiar with at all before last night. – insert obligatory comment about how great the Twin Cities music scene HERE!

 

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