INTOX EXTRAVAGANZA
AMP STUDIOS, LONDON
8 SEPTEMBER 2022
The Latvian performance artist, Waterflower, gives new meaning to the phrase, “Tesco disco.” In order to make their music, they need a fresh supply of mushrooms. The fruiting bodies of fungus produce electricity, like the human nervous system, and can trigger I/O interfaces to make sound. On the table, in front of Waterflower, therefore, are assorted electronics and products from the supermarket mixed together.
A rare appearance in London delivers a combination of quirky, fungus-fuelled drones and blips, glitch beats and powerful vocals. Several tracks are drawn from Waterflower’s 2019 album, Balta Gaisma [EN: White Light], but there is heavy-duty new material, as well. An astute and accomplished performer, Waterflower holds the attention of the curious crowd, even as the adjacent beer garden fills with news of life imitating a Smith’s song. The Queen is dead, but the garden of electronic delights needs tending.
Waterflower is a thoroughly modern experience, born on the carpet of Baltic forests. Vocoders and portobellos add texture, but the expressiveness and timbre of Sabine Moore’s vocals provides an emotional core that is unique. Like the imaginary offspring of Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel, Waterflower transports the listener to a place of dreams; and the kicker is that the instruments of transformation can be found in the vegetable aisle.