Aside from a sparkly sheet to cover her table of effects pedals, Toronto's Alexandra MacKenzie, better known under the stage name Petra Glynt, added only one other piece of stage dressing to the kitschy Menz Bar platform: a handmade chandelier of hand-dried flowers, hanging from the ceiling. The naturalistic tinge kept catching my eye throughout the set as my ear was drawn to the way MacKenzie's drum flourishes, though electronic, sound natural in their own way. Listen closely and it's almost as if you can hear elephants trumpeting, or a fevered pack of lions on the prowl.
In contrast, MacKenzie's voice sounds almost hyper-human — and I don't mean that as a negative. It recalls Broadway theatricality, a Liza Minnelli sort of force. When she's not adding extra percussion with a floor tom, she's swaying around the stage, her eyes open but clearly fully immersed in delivering the material.
The combination — ethereal vocal tones over thundering percussion — made for a sound that, at times, came across a bit mushy in the tiny bar, but was consistently engaging.
In contrast, MacKenzie's voice sounds almost hyper-human — and I don't mean that as a negative. It recalls Broadway theatricality, a Liza Minnelli sort of force. When she's not adding extra percussion with a floor tom, she's swaying around the stage, her eyes open but clearly fully immersed in delivering the material.
The combination — ethereal vocal tones over thundering percussion — made for a sound that, at times, came across a bit mushy in the tiny bar, but was consistently engaging.
