I hadn’t really planned on hitting this show, primarily because it was on a Tuesday night and I hadn’t heard anything by any of the bands playing. I knew that Daniel Higgs was one of the main guys behind the band Lungfish, but they’re a band I was never familiar with. I had also heard of one of the other bands playing, Trockeneis, but had never heard their music…it was the fact that they had a member who played dry ice that really drew my interest and curiosity. The rest of the lineup featured solo and group performances by a variety of Japanese musicians playing a variety of non-traditional instruments. All of the performers on this bill (except Higgs and Giovando, I think) are performing this weekend at High Zero Festival. The High Zero Festival is an annual Baltimore event of improvised and experimental music that draws artists from across the world.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really feeling it when Trockeneis played after Higgs and Giovando. My curiosity on how one plays the dry ice was quickly sated and I just didn’t find the music interesting enough to keep my attention…which wasn’t really disappointing at all because it gave me more time to hang out and talk with a friend I knew at the show (I usually spend my time at shows with my gear, but this evening I just hit record and went and enjoyed myself for once). I guess the disappointment of Trokenesis carried over to the Japanese performers, because I didn’t even bother to wait for them to start…I packed up my gear and headed home.

So back to the first set of the night, Daniel Higgs and Chiara Giovando. This set turned out to just be incredible in so many ways. In the info file for this show, I list some of the instruments I saw played, and one of those listed for Chiara is “mouth.” It’s not like a human beat box thing, but she has an amazing talent of creating sounds from her mouth and throat. There’s an instrumental jam (track 3) and if you had no idea what instrument they were both playing, I bet 99% of you would guess the didgeridoo. In truth, they were both jamming the Jew’s Harp (also known as a juice harp or jaw’s harp). But my favorite parts were the first song Living in the Kingdom of Death and the last, untitled because I don’t know what it is. Higgs’ voice is amazing and, I’m sure, would make a great storyteller, as evidenced by both of these songs. His lyrics remind me of some of the early solo material of Rick Wakeman from the progressive rock band Yes. In fact, if I were to pigeon-hole Higgs’ into one style genre or another, I would suggest progressive folk music. It was just an amazing set and well worth coming out for.

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