Fielded

The venue was as fascinating as the artist performing in it. And the girl behind Fielded has all kinds of projects going. On this Wednesday night, 1st June Lindsey is Fielded. The Monday night at Empty Bottle she was playing under Ga'an. This artist has more work than I can catch up with, that I'm often too broke to catch up with.
I'm trying all day to describe her work without using the word dark. Can't do it. Her work can be a deep look into a ....wait for it....dark restless waters. Her definition of ambient are clouds of fumes waiting for that inevitable spark.

You know if you like a band...if going to concerts is your currency....the cultural capital being music, some people like going to see movies, sports. I suppose in some way we seek on the outside what is reflected inside. What you go see can clock you somehow. I see my local culture manifest in music. Our common experiences captured in it's amber. It's not frivolous escapism for me and while we are at it. Escapism isn't frivolous either. We seek our troubadours to play the soundtrack of our lives. The better to help us write our own narratives. And so their existence is noteworthy. As are the places they lead us into.

So I heard of this place named Mortville. It's in Little Village. 2106 S Kedzie. Wednesday night I go there to see Fielded. It will be my third time under that name. Why this third time. The place always changes the context of the performance. Mortville seemed to be a factory once. The area around it still seems dangerous and thuggish, gang infested. This building does nothing to call attention to itself, its right near a viaduct. I think the pink line is right there. The only clues are the lights flashing from the windows at night during a show, and the faint music that you can hear from the viaduct. So they are not hiding. I park my car in a well lit street. It's emptiness erie, like I'm expecting more people walking outside. It's near 26th street. Places like Empty Bottle, Hideout have their own signature cult-status. And they are establishments. Mortville is different. There is something defiant if only passively about having a band as intense as Fielded in these lonely places that ran out of their previous usefulness. I guess it's no different than holding a rave, only the people to see Ms Lindsey are far too chill. Mortville's edge is that it feels like a squat, all ages. It's in a shady south-side area. Normally all ages venues invite the type of youth normally seen in malls, the lowest common smartness. But once inside, the people are no different than Empty Bottle. In fact I saw quite a few from there.

I follow like four people up this narrow winding stairs, poorly lit and clearly made for the waistlines of generations past. I pay the cover. People are free to smoke inside. I've seen people carry in their own beer. I've seen cats and dogs walk around. They were raising chickens in one well lit side room. You can chill on the roof, and there's a view of the El stop. You get a good view of the backside of Chicago, it's functional working-class side. One can plan where they can park for next time. You get this feeling that you are redefining the use for the building by holding all these shows. In the context of a performance space you turn the mundane wondrous, like a view from the roof. Fielded is finally on. By now I'm familiar with her religious delivery. I mean I like it enough to go to a rough area. If you like bands like Telepathe, Ryat, look up Fielded. When she is described as ambient, that does not mean boring, self-indulgent. Her ambient is a thin film of tension that threatens to break just around the corner. In one of her songs the electricity shorted everything out in mid-song, but it came back within seconds. So Lindsey works herself into this state where her eyes are open but they seem to look internally. Just the same, don't lock eyes with her. Her intense stare is that of old clergy driving the demons out. Sweat observable on her face. Fielded moves with the body-language of a street preacher, her hands gripping the mic or sticking straight out. She feels it, so you feel it. Her clothes are always casual....well she did wear heels for that show in Hideout. The intensity and dramatic rises and falls in performance are in the keyboards. She loops together parts with her voice. The repetitions have this engine to them. I cannot remember specifically which songs. And so I am a fan of Fielded/Ga'an/Ms Lindsey. I had to say hi before I leaving. She remembered my name. That always feels nice.

Zig