May be it was the heat – it’s still 90-100ºF here in LA – may be it was the dehydration but I thought I was hallucinating, these sugary visions of women dancing and singing in veils in the middle of garlands of flowers had everything of a mirage you could have after spending 3 days walking in the desert… and that was such a weird experience!
It was nevertheless a show by Diva at Amoeba, and a way to escape the heat, no seriously a way to channel infinite love and to be aware of our inner divinity, or something like this. Was I really at Amoeba? After all, may be I had entered the wrong door, Sunset boulevard is the address of so many weird cults, from scientology to that self realization fellowship temple, but no, there were only vinyl and CDs around me, I was definitively at Amoeba.
On stage, five women covered with pastel-colored veils were sort of entering in a yoga transcendental meditation, reciting a new age-y discourse about opening our minds and receiving a waterfall, some esoteric stuff they were taking very seriously,… like opening our feet into the earth to channel infinite love?… they were surrounded by flowers and I was wondering, when do they really start the show?
As I arrive generally in advance, I usually see musicians set up their instruments and equipment, nothing like this this time, I just saw women arranging flowers along the stage while playing with their young kids. They finally started dancing with very Bollywood moves over a poppy sound, with dreamy vocals, slow beats, repetitive grooves and sugary visions, and the rest of the show was as soft as a dream about the secret life of antic Vesta. They eventually quit their veils, revealing multicolor mushroom-y hats, and the words divine or satori embroidered with pearls in their leotards; they danced even more, and two of them left the stage to draw silver threads and apply red rose petals on everyone’s forehead… mine didn’t stay, is it a sign? They caressed people’s faces with roses and the ceremony could have lasted forever, it was so relaxing!
Recognizing our own divinity? And if by divine they meant turning in circles forever and wearing funny hats, they were onto something. But it was a pleasing-on-the eyes spectacle, these women were definitively looking for serenity and beauty with all these languid pauses, while their last song had trembling emotive vocals….
It was one of the most unexpected performances I have ever seen at Amoeba, combining a spiritual experience, or cultish attitude depending on your convictions, with lo-fi pop and alien ambient soundscapes,… They were in fact celebrating the release of ‘Divinity In Thee’ on Peanut Butter Wolf’s new imprint Circle Star Records. Diva has worked previously with Pocahaunted (yes the band that Bethany Cosentino quit to concentrate on her band Best Coast) but also with L.A. Ladies, Blackblack, and that must be her most out-there work so far.
