Throughout my time in college, I organized a number of underground musical events, and attended many more. So when it came time to have the release party for my new album, STRANGE LOVE, I was determined to make it just right. A close friend of mine had recently started a new house venue in Boston, and he agreed to give me a great deal of creative control for my performance. I had two goals: Immersion and Expression.

Immersion:

I wanted everyone at the event to fall into the world of VISITOR. There were some simple ways to do this; VISITOR was aesthetically inspired by Twin Peaks, and more generally the feeling of something foreign, alien, and mystical. We were able to capture this aesthetic by using large white spotlights and dim twinkle lights in a variety of colors for the lighting.

So the space captured the VISITOR aesthetic—next was to consider the performance. I wanted to make sure that everyone was fully engaged throughout the performance, regardless of where they were in the room. I had been toying around with the idea of an “attention gradient”, considering the things that could grab your attention within a space and how to strategically place them so that everyone is equally engaged. Specifically, I was interested in the idea of placing the performer in the center of the room and the speakers at the four corners of the room. This way, people close to the performer are engaged by the performance, and people further away are engaged by the music. This was something I hadn’t been able to implement with the bands I had worked with in the past due to wiring issues and the sheer space a band takes up; However, since I was the only person on stage, we were able to execute this by running my microphone down from the ceiling.

Finally, to make sure people never left the world of VISITOR for the duration of my performance, I never “broke character”. I performed the album from start to finish with no breaks, and at the end of it, I mysteriously disappeared. This required some collaboration between me and my DJ. He made sure to watch me as I performed, making sure I had enough energy to stay in character and slowing down transitions between songs whenever it seemed that I needed a break.

Expression:

My second goal was to make everyone feel comfortable expressing themselves however they might want, and to encourage people to move. The way I had organized the room (as described above) lent itself well to this goal. At any show, it’s typical for those who want to dance to come to the front while those who want to listen move to the back. Of course in this orientation, the “back”, or outer edges of the space, were the places where the music was loudest, so the people wanting to listen would be most engaged by the music anyways. For those in the front, I had to explore ways to encourage and facilitate movement.

The first strategy was to remove any barrier to myself; I had no stage, and actively danced with everyone. By hanging my microphone from the ceiling, we even removed the small barrier of a mic stand. This allowed me to very easily encourage movement; if I started to dance, people would dance with me. This proved to be quite effective.

The second strategy was to consider the audience’s energy. My DJ, in addition to considering if I could give a strong performance, also considered if the audience needed a break. He would slow down or speed up parts depending on how long it was until the next high-energy section and whether the audience seemed tired or restless.

All in all, the show ended up being a wonderful experience. The crowd of 80+ people we drew was buzzing. Friends of mine with no interest in my style of music came up to me after with big grins on their faces, telling me how much they loved the show. The strategies I implemented really did seem to be effective for increasing engagement. Going forward, I hope to explore them and others like them more rigorously.

Listen to STRANGE LOVE: Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube Music