The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver has brought back its B-Side Music Thursdays rooftop summer concert series for 2016. This year's schedule makes good on the MCA's goal to present “the best up-and-coming Colorado bands and side projects of well-known Denver bands and musicians,” getting started last week with popular Denver-based singer-songwriter Rob Drabkin. This Thursday, June 16, two stars of the experimental side of the Denver music scene, Church Fire and Mirror Fears, will share the stage. Weaving together elements of dance music, noise, ambient and pop, both acts infuse their music with sharp, thoughtful social critique.
Since the beginning of 2012, Kate Warner has made her solo project, Mirror Fears, into her full-time musical project. After parting amicably with her rock band, Talk All Night, Warner began exploring the possibilities of looping sounds to create haunting and emotionally stirring compositions. Over the past few years, she has brought more bass tones into her beatmaking, inspired in part by seeing how the experimental/prog band Rubedo used a Moog synthesizer, rather than use a bass guitar, to play bass parts. Warner's music is ethereal, but it has dense beats and atmospheres, while her ghostly vocals have an irresistible quality that gives the music an unmistakable presence.
“I feel like that comes from my Denver influences,” Warner says. “People ask me what I listen to, and primarily it's local music, because most of my inspirations are pretty poppy in a lot of ways. French Kettle Station is pretty accessible but also pretty out there. Same with Cop Circles and Church Fire. When asked what I feel like Denver has going for it, it's that sort of thing. It's somehow listenable for more than a small niche of people, but challenging enough to be interesting.”
Expect to see a new Mirror Fears full-length sometime within the next year, but until then, Warner is involved in remixing songs by Denver artists Morlox and Kid Mask, as well as Chicago's Fire Tools and Calico Club from San Antonio. You can also listen to current Mirror Fears music at mirrorfears.bandcamp.com.
Below is the rest of the B-Side Music Thursdays schedule:
6/16 Mirror Fears/Church Fire
6/23 Evan Holm/King Cardinal
6/30 Bluebook
7/7 What Young Men Do
7/14 Horse Latitudes/Ancient Elk
7/21 Rubedo
7/28 Famethrowah/Roka Hueka
8/4 Megan Fong/Oko Tygra
8/11 Plume Varia/Male Blonding
8/18 Elin Palmer/Chimney Choir
8/25 Chella & the Charm
9/1 Loanword/Milk Blossoms
9/8 Snails and Oysters/DéCollage
B-Side Music Thursdays at MCA Denver Rooftop Cafe & Bar
Thursday 6-8 p.m.
Happy Hour 5-7 p.m.
Free with museum admission: $5 after 5 p.m., free for members
For more information, please visit mcadenver.org.