Originally this post was going to be strictly about seeing one band. I will perhaps write more of one but I could not separate the experience from the others that played that same night. And also the place where it was held. That is important as well. It was at Resistor, a cool safe space. I saw Dorsia finally. She is Alice Kraynak. She's in Idylls, also plays violin with Fauvely. She released a tape recently, Casual Hex. And casual is a feeling I get from hearing the four song release. Its weird to say this but this is the kind of music that rides the border between distant and intimate. Wait, wait. That's not the weird part. I can accurately guess which of my friends would hear this, and which would dislike it off hand. As much as I like it. I know who will not. Don't worry about Alice, she is chill in all four songs. Other people might feel the pressure with just them on stage. Not Ms Alice. I first became aware of Dorsia when she was scheduled to play Emporium. I did not get there on time but I bought her cassette anyway. I liked the demos Alice previously released. As many times as I miss shit, I hate missing shit. So I try harder the next time. This other time turned out to be at Rani's Resistor, with Fauvely and Arelie, Scott Cortez side project made from lyrics from a discarded diary of a 12 year old girl.....or something like that. These words are the most interior written down. Some may have been graded by a teacher. I think they were written as poems and Scott Cortez puts them to song. No,....it was not to take the piss out. That just sounds mean. 
It was a Friday, 17 November and this night was about all three, Arelie, Dorsia, and Fauvely. So often, these intimate, important shows fly below the radar of larger events. I know Revolting Cocks were playing Metro that same night. For here at Resistor there were just about 10 maybe, and everyone in there would know who they are. Well....I didn't fucking know the last two people who strolled in. Revolting Cocks....We all know them since high school. So I can't really separate this first time seeing Dorsia from them other bands, and I cannot ignore the shadow of who I did not see. I don't think I would actually go to see the Cocks. I'm ok. I got my vinyl from Wax Trax way back in high school. I'm ok with having the CD downloaded into my Mac. I don't need to see them from way in the back of the room. I was at the show that I intended to be and was happier for it, Resistor....Rani's place. I was happier seeing Dorsia with Arelie and Fauvely. When I first started listening to Fauvely, my next thought was to want to see them at Resistor. Its the perfect intimate place and it can still hold bigger shows. I saw Panda Riot there with Lightfoils and Brief Candles.
So on this Friday there is this rare convergence of bands that includes Dorsia, who I was late for at Emporium. So I must include all this even before I continue with Ms Alice. Where I saw her and with who is just as important. How am I not going to include Arelie, the new and interesting project from Scott Cortez. When I walked in, he was playing. This show was going to start early, at 8pm, but they waited for the crowd to swell to just over a handful. There were seats arranged. This was cool, it just felt right observing this intimate show seated than standing. I think all who attended really observed these open-vein, heartfelt tracks song by Scott Cortez. I mean he was chill. The lyrics were time capsules written I think in the 90's by a 12 year old girl. That kind of sincerity we lose as adults as we become more protective of our interior castle. And how many male singers do music from 12 year old girls, or sing music from their perspective. This had us so fascinated. You just enter an unguarded space of sincerity. These words were constructed, put down by a 12 year old girl in the 90's. They were not written for her to say on some shady Nickelodeon or Disney show by some fucking old perv. We were hearing in song, a more accurate primary document. So we leaned and listened and remembered ourselves. 
So the music of Dorsia was originally conceived from recordings made on an iPhone. The name may sound familiar to fans of the movie American Psycho. Its the name of a restaurant where it is really hard to get a reservation. Now that we have that in mind, enter the first track. As sweet and introspective as Fauvely sounds, so I was really struck by how chill and vicious Dorsia can sound. I'm right now only referring to Marcelle. I'm not shitting on this track. The chill is in her delivery, the vicious is in the lyrics. Its not meek and sweet. She's wearing a...wife beater, clearly in charge like Stanley Kowalski....and she just chugged the last beer and crushed the can. That's Marcelle! On stage it was just Alice and her guitar. Continuing with the casual, chill vibe that also carries with it this vague 60's .....thing, like something written for scenes for the show Mad Men. If Fauvely is introspective and self critical, Dorsia can be at times dominant to giddy all while sounding so relaxed. Window Girl, reminds me of The Girls At Dawn this shoegaze band I saw at Empty Bottle. They got that 60's vibe fused to their shoegazing, only their songs barely reach two minutes. Their voices are also a little more girly. Alice voice is solitary deeper. Hey, you gotta give me credit for going through most of this post barely mentioning shoegaze. Your asking me to hold my breath. I was in a room with Scott Cortez, and Sophie from Videotape. They kind of bring the embassy with them. Sometimes it don't take much to be called shoegaze. You can share the same indy label, weed dealer. It can go a little beyond what you sound like, and I'm cool with that. Its a very useful description, because its a shorthand that invites you to explore where they come from, and how they eventually appeared in front of you on that stage. So lets now go back specifically to Dorsia.
With Fauvely Alice plays violin....and would play violin later on. I saw all the bands! Being on time....what a concept. As Dorsia, Alice everyday is a one woman act. Her name always reminds me of that Book Of Love track about her having some interesting things to say. The song and the band come up and they are a classic and so it derails the fucking train of thought. Dorsia worked so very well in this intimate setting in Resistor. I noticed more instruments in the recordings and still all four songs translated well with just Alice and her guitar. I believe there is more work coming from Dorsia that will be recorded and that is something I look forward to.
Fauvely also has new songs. She played last. That's when Alice played her violin. It adds a layer without taking from its intimacy. Candles in a cave. Fauvely played new songs that took us back to her home town of Savannah. These are new and they are going to be recorded....I assume. I think she did play both Watch Me Overcomplicate This , and Break. For me they are two segments of the same conversation. Its not in how they sound. They kind of support the same thought. Somehow I link them together. For something so small, she carries with her a world of atmosphere. A candle strolling past wonders. Oh, and I'm glad I did not forget this. Scott Cortez and Sophie played some Astrobrite. This was a great fucking night. I'm sorry if its scary, me laying this all down like this all intense and Baroque. I say Baroque because every detail is as important and heavy as the whole, and there are a lot of details. I saw the show I meant to see.
Zig
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