Sepomana Brings Down the House

WRMC’s annual spring concert, Sepomana, offered an exciting and eclectic lineup of acts spanning genres and continents.  Hosted in the McCullough Student Center’s Wilson Hall, acts made creative use of space, light and sound to create a consistently surprising experience.

Opener and student band Iron Eyes Cody performed a solid set of soulful folk-tinged rock, making notable use of unprecedented instrumentation; in this case, saxophones were incorporated seamlessly into the group’s texture while offering unique room for playful experimentation.  Always engaging, Iron Eyes Cody was a grounded and vibrant prelude to what proved to be an eclectic evening.

In the brief break between acts, I was surprised to witness drums, microphone stands and speakers being rolled out to the center of the concert space, level with the standing-room audience.  Israel-based Yonatan Gat was thus assembled, encircled by the audience and dramatically flanked by a single light emanating from the middle of the room.  As he dug into a frenetic, relentless set, a spirited, communal energy washed over the room.  Yonatan Gat and his band were not deified, but were participants in the same eccentric dance party as their audience, at times acting as near-literal ringleaders, at others dancing among and with members of the audience.

Their instrumental sound was punctuated only briefly about midway through their set by a few fleeting bars of sung verse, before they launched back into the demanding licks and runs of their endless grooves.  Often, a clear melody, underpinned by an undeniable rhythmic groove, would be established and sustained for some time before the manic momentum of the performance carried both away.  Yonatan Gat was the kinetic center to Sepomana, producing a manic expressiveness that stood in contrast and compliment to the other acts.

New York-based Ratking offered a compelling counterpoint to the incisive sparseness of Yonatan Gat.  Where Yonatan Gat found frenzy in precision, crafting carefully coordinated thrill rides, Ratking’s caustic and confrontational ambience was borne of intricate sound design courtesy of producer Sporting Life.  Rappers Wiki and Hak played off each other’s performances to great effect, Wiki’s dynamic delivery contrasting Hak’s typically languid, solid style. Ratking’s youthful evocation of city life has its roots in a long succession of New York City rappers, but through their embrace of a myriad of styles and sounds, they echo an experience all their own.

To close out a night of diverse and compelling music making, Montreal-based producer and DJ Lunice proved to be a crowd-pleaser.  In an uninterrupted set of electronic dance music, Lunice drew from a bevy of styles, sampling everything from familiar hits to intriguing lesser-known projects.  In this sense, Lunice was an apt encapsulation of Sepomana in total: a nimble, high-energy, all-embracing showcase of myriad styles and sounds.