JoJo Worthington and Grace Scheele

Live at The Registry Theatre

7:30pm – Grace Scheele

American-Canadian Grace Scheele is a contemporary harpist, composer, and improviser dually based in Kitchener and Toronto. Her music hones minimalistic textures within noise landscapes – creating a sound that is “a pliable, fluid, continuum…that’s as beautiful as it is unconventional” (Canadian Music Centre).

Grace interweaves electronics, structured improvisation, and sampling: reimagining the pedal harp as an electroacoustic instrument. An active performer, improviser, and interdisciplinary collaborator, she has performed in venues, festivals, and concert series across Canada and abroad. Highlights include premiering new solo works 12 Layers and manifest for harp and electronics at the Canadian Music Centre’s 2021 Multilocation Festival, making her American debut at Oh My Ears’ 2020 New Music Festival, and performing solo improvisations at The Music Gallery and Soundstreams.

8:30pm – JoJo Worthington (with band)

Over the past decade, JoJo Worthington has emerged as a distinct presence in creative Canadian music, pairing deftly penned songs with spectacular sonic landscapes. Having wandered through the “lost, enchanted forest” (Bandcamp, New & Noteworthy) of 2016’s breakthrough album, \\, and sailed the seas of her epic avant-pop odyssey TCYK (2019), BAPTIZED I sees this visionary songcrafter adorning her armour, grabbing her sword, and beginning a quest for a destination that isn’t tangible—a quest towards the divine.

BAPTIZED I leaves no stone of Worthington’s distinctive sonic palette unturned. Tender acoustic ballads erupt into sweeping electronic passages; anthemic refrains find peace in surreal soundscapes. Uniting Phoebe Bridgers-esque hooks with the electronics sensibilities of M83, these songs match confessional intimations with grand gestures. They bring Death, the devil, and the Holy Ghost into scenes of high school bush parties and wintertime walks along the St. Lawrence. Combining earthly and celestial sounds, BAPTIZED I stands between worlds as Worthington yearns to make her “flesh connect / to the world as it is / and to be as the spirit is.” This chameleonic EP explores the feeling of crossing a bridge between the ordinary and the extraordinary; between the superficial and the sacred; between what has been and what should be.

Tickets

$15 in advance

$20 at the door

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