LA Weekly

Hecuba
The Bordello, July 20
by Nazanin Arandi

Hecuba opens your eyes, literary and emotionally. The songs are stories of sadness and the most innocent joy. Hecuba is an experience created through epic sounds that take cues from middle-eastern lyrical cadence to hip hop hip shaking. This uncategorizable band belongs to museums, to happenings, to clubs, and to theaters; it is familiar as the past but takes you into the future.

They are performers in a true sense, breaking boundaries and transplanting the audience to a comfortable yet bizarre space where one cannot be sure whether they should be dancing or waxing poetic over a past life on Mythos.

I was shocked, and in this day and age it's damn hard to be shocked. Isabelle Albuquerque's vocals have a dynamic range as grand as the Alps and her body moves as if she was possessed by the goddess of music. Jon Beasley's mature and unforgettable drums are direct and powerful and he doesn't shy from fronting the piano or guitar, he is a true chameleon and a delightful leading man. They are accompanied by Justin Dicenzo's Japanese koto harp (it has to be seen to be believed), Maryam Blacksher, creating a hypnotic and eerie tenseness by plucking her viola with her fingers while Eric Layer's bass ads groovy dimension to this accessible yet challenging palette.

So put on your dancing shoes for HECUBA at the last night of their residency at Bordello next Thursday, July 26th.

Photos and video by Ryan Ward

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