BEN FROST, TIM HECKER, ROBERT HENKE, EMPTYSET and more as part of Unsound Toronto at Luminato. Friday and Saturday (June 19 and 20). Rating: NNNN
Walking into the Hearn Generating Station feels a bit like descending into hell. The former electrical generating station has been abandoned for more than 20 years, which you could probably guess by looking at the exposed dirt floors, staircases that lead to nowhere and exposed wires in the walls. At Luminato’s Unsound Toronto this past weekend, it was dark, lit by red and blue lights that scanned across the scaffolding as opener Lustmord kicked off the fest with deep, doom sounds.
Every artist who played the two-night festival was certainly innovative, but the real star here was the venue itself. Each set was best experienced with a bit of wandering: the acoustics changed depending on where you were standing in the crowd, and wandering around the venue’s different paths was made beautiful or ominous depending on which artist was playing.
Almost every act drew on multiple senses, which worked best for Robert Henke’s Lumiere II on Friday. It was a full-body experience, with piercingly bright lasers dancing on a screen and chest-vibrating sub-bass perfectly paired with the visuals. Saturday night had impressive light shows, too, with AtomTM and Robin Fox projecting fast-moving planes and lines of RGB over top of and into the crowd.
By the time Ben Frost starting layering powerful droning sounds to bright flashes of light towards the end of the second day, it was clear that this was something special. Unsound is known for facilitating musical discovery in beautiful places through its Krakow, New York and Adelaide editions, and if the awe-filled crowds this weekend are any indication, this is exactly what Toronto needs.
Please, please, please come back next year.
See our interview with the Unsound Toronto organizers here.
elenag@nowtoronto.com | @elenagritzan
