Sweet Love Under Tyranny- Post Show Review

LAST Thursday, on October 6, 2022

[in the former dwelling of Twilight bar] Mano Occulta, located on SE Powell Blvd, featured a bill of four artists, predominantly encompassing a storm of heavy noise, staticed with elements of Industrial-Metal, & broody vocals.

First act of the night, [Portland duo] At the Heart of the World, pulsed the room with coarse thickets, & adrenaline- carrying forward, with dense beats on their shoulders. To follow,

The audience fell silent, as Sweet Love Under Tyranny [S.L.U.T.] opened their set with a spoken prayer, syncing the attention of the room to her incantation.

Chords pitched with pink, blue, & yellow beams of melodic rippling, rang over the atmosphere, in a shimmer-fallen fashion, -like a sapphire train from a gown [made] of constellations- Vocals ranged from sensual hymns, to a devouring rasp of Primal Lilith. Each piece’s easy-to-follow lyrics were serenaded over richly layered beats, & stilettoed keys -accented with complimentary, Cold Wave percussive[s.]-

S.L.U.T. performed a four, full-tracks set, including the popular Sirened Single, Love is the Law

popular Sirened Single, Love is the Law

[Full setlist:] //Opening Incantation// Sojourn, Sanctuary, Love is the Law, Montparnasse, //Closing Incantation//

As her hypnosis charmed its way to a close, those of us watching were released from an unstated sense of surrender, left to reacclimate back into the confines of a dive bar. [I would go as far as to say it is as if I had been perfumed with her melodies since I left the show, & I have not quite been able to stop humming them since.]

Sweet Love Under Tyranny simultaneously cleansed, & refueled the space with her alchemical songing, the perfect balance branching the thrash of (PDX) At the Heart of the World, & [following act] (NYC) Trace Amount [& (PDX) headliner King Yosef.]