The Sechelt Arts Festival — which began its 2024 revival with an exhibit that scoured the depths of the Salish Sea — will conclude with a display of ephemeral art set in the heights of the solstice skies.
Roberts Creek-based visual artist Mieke Jay Bray (who performs simply as Mieke Jay) will present a program of projected outdoor illuminations in concert with electronic musician Ana-Eve Shendebray, who appears under the professional banner Goats and Lasers (and uses the stage name “Lady” in performance).
The show takes place this Saturday, Dec. 14 at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt, as part of a closing dance party for the annual arts festival.
The creative collaboration also represents another type of reunion for the two performers: Mieke Jay is Shendebray’s mother. When Shendebray (now in her mid-twenties) was a child, her mom set up projectors in their living room. The pair cast shadow puppets on the wall while Ana-Eve beat time with a hand drum.
“I always love collaborating with my kid,” said Mieke Jay. “The Sechelt Arts Festival gave us a theme, and we’ve talked about how each of us is approaching and making connections to the Salish Sea.”
Shendebray has spent the last five years expanding the reach of Goats and Lasers with solo performances of uniquely improvised music at Vancouver-area venues like Red Gate and 648kingsway.
“My plans are never super concrete,” said Shendebray. “My plans are like a little basket that I can fill with things as they come up. It’s always dependent on who’s there and how people react. Every single show of mine is different and it’s very dependent on the people who are there, the literal physical space and the energy. And that’s what I love about it.”
The acoustics of the coastline and its environs will play a prominent part in Shendebray’s samples and looped rhythms. This week, she has visited nostalgia-evoking locales to record sounds. “I’ve always loved in-betweens,” she said, “and I love the brackish in-between of the ocean and the western Roberts Creek area. It’s like a little microbiome that’s so specific and small; there are plants that can only exist there.”
In the throes of performance, spectators also become a key ingredient for Shendebray’s music. She records audience members singing a single vowel, changing their pitch in response to her hand movements. The experience is akin to playing a theremin (a 1920s-vintage electronic instrument played without physical contact), she explained, except that vocal cords are just the beginning. Once recorded, the crowd samples are altered using a keyboard. Shendebray favours an OP device, “a tiny, weird synthesizer,” that looks like something out of musical science fiction.
“I’m a solo act but the secret band member is everyone else who’s there,” she said.
For Mieke Jay, the process of developing thought-provoking lighting effects caused her to reflect on the gap between casual familiarity and deep understanding of regional ecosystems. “One of the things I was looking at is how people interact with the Salish Sea,” she said. “I go to the beach, I get on the ferry, I drive over bridges — and hopefully I make choices that are more positive for the ecology, especially as we’re seeing more extreme weather events. We’re not outside of it. We’re right in it.”
Self-realization has also become a facet of Shendebray’s artistic journey. “Coming into my queerness has helped me become a better performer,” she said, “and become more comfortable in my own skin. I can finally imagine a future for myself. I’m excited to get old, to keep playing music, and for the future.”
The Arts Council’s all-ages dance party starts at 8 p.m.; admission is by donation until the venue reaches capacity. The facility’s Arts Studio will host a “Sip + Play” cash bar for patrons aged 19+.
