Easily one of the most anticipated acts of this year's New Forms program, Murcof & Simon Geilfus sat down to a full house in the Omnimax Theatre early Friday night. Murcof set the tone with a subtle soundscape that summoned a giant unorthodox shape in the center of the screen that began to tremble and grow with the steady rise of the music. Frightening bursts of orchestrated thunder would stretch and pull the shape apart until the entire piece engulfed the giant screen. It wasn't long before the audience was completely immersed in a giant web of scattered lights and lines.
Rarely was there ever just one element on the screen to focus on, leaving one's eyes to wander and admire the detail. There was an organic, almost living nature to Geilfus' astonishing visuals that were constantly feeding on Murcof's tonal precision. Camera movements would shift with a pitch in the music while objects obstructed one's view as if the piece was built entirely around the audience. Only at the end did the performance introduce splashes of colour, as streams of blue light filled the room to Murcof's "Cometa," giving way to a thrilling sonic conclusion that had the crowd both excited and stunned.
Rarely was there ever just one element on the screen to focus on, leaving one's eyes to wander and admire the detail. There was an organic, almost living nature to Geilfus' astonishing visuals that were constantly feeding on Murcof's tonal precision. Camera movements would shift with a pitch in the music while objects obstructed one's view as if the piece was built entirely around the audience. Only at the end did the performance introduce splashes of colour, as streams of blue light filled the room to Murcof's "Cometa," giving way to a thrilling sonic conclusion that had the crowd both excited and stunned.
