Cate Le Bon, L’Rain, Zsela, & Mega Bog @ El Rey Theater [11/29/23]
Photos by Lily Stockton
November 29, the day that everyone’s highly anticipated Spotify Wrapped drops. As people are recapping their year’s worth of musical experiences and learning that their music tastes belong in Berkeley, California, my Spotify Wrapped tells me that three of my top artists this year were Weyes Blood, Jessica Pratt, and Oneohtrix Point Never. Though their musical palettes couldn’t be more different, I would eventually learn later that night that the three artists actually share a pretty unexpected common thread: all 3 of them have been signed to the Brooklyn-based record label Mexican Summer at some point in their careers. Which is kind of a funny coincidence, because the same night Mexican Summer would hold their 15th anniversary celebration at the El Rey Theater.
Named after the Marissa Nadler song of the same name, Mexican Summer is a Brooklyn-based indie label that has managed their fair share of indie darlings since their founding in 2009. Besides Jessica Pratt, Mexican Summer currently houses other reputable artists like LA producer Drugdealer, Amarillo guitarist Hayden Pedigo, and Danish punk band Iceage. To celebrate their 15th anniversary, Mexican Summer has been hosting a series of shows across the globe to boast their eclectic artist lineup. Tonight’s show at the El Rey is the label’s final stop of the tour, with the bill consisting of Mega Bog, Zsela, L’Rain, and Cate Le Bon. It’s a fittingly grand tribute for the label’s 15th anniversary.
As I entered the venue, a large backdrop of a smiling figure was hanging behind the stage, its manicured face holding a watchful eye on all the incoming audience while donning an unnaturally large smile. Upon closer inspection, its eyes held the Mexican Summer logo and the makeup below them spelled out a large green “15.” As I engaged in my own sort of staring contest with the face, my concert mate and photographer Lily pointed me towards a pink threaded tube on the stage and wondered what it would be used for. We’d discover its purpose ten minutes later once Mega Bog and her crew came on stage.
Upon arriving on stage, percussionist (and Big Thief drummer!) James Krivchenia clutched the pink tube and began swinging it above his head like some kind of musical lasso, generating the acoustics of an angelic woodwind choir within the venue. The frenzy of synths and vocal yelps that followed perfectly marked the start of the show.
The audience would once again be met with another surprise guest appearance from Hand Habits’ own Meg Duffy, who briefly came on stage to play guitar for the band. A saxophonist also came into the fold during the set, adding a rich layer of texture to the synth-heavy tunes.
Mega Bog’s set mainly consisted of tracks off of her latest album End of Everything, which fuses new wave and synth pop elements into the classic indie rock aesthetic. Unsurprisingly, this meant that the songs on the record translated nicely into a live setting. Mega Bog probably understood this as well, just how easily she and her bandmates can transform the room into a kinetic bubble. Seeing as the entire show was scheduled to be quite long, her set gave the audience the stamina boost they all probably needed for the rest of the night.
The next performer on the bill was Zsela. I admit, I went into the performance blind, but as Zsela strutted onto stage in her tattered black dress and high platform boots, her aura alone got me pumped for the next offering from Mexican Summer.
Unlike Mega Bog’s animated, synth-heavy set, Zsela’s set instead offered a delicate whisper right to my ear. Under the command of her hushed but cavernous vocals, she led a rather skeletal display of R&B, with only her bassist and guitarist providing the occasional musical touch here and there. Think Nilüfer Yanya but if she made moody R&B instead.
Currently, Zsela’s discography is quite sparse, with only an EP and a remix EP to her name. Her 2020 EP Ache of Victory made up most of her set. On Ache of Victory, Zsela mopes through drinking problems, failed romances, and unhealthy trips down memory lane. While possessing the somber affect that’s so prominent in the EP, every one of Zsela’s words fell onto the stage with a particular heaviness. Although brief, Zsela was able to craft an ephemeral experience even with the limited amount of material she had.
The next hour introduced my favorite set of the night. The third set was spearheaded by L’Rain, a musical project led by Brooklyn singer-songwriter Taja Cheek. Her latest album I Killed Your Dog is one that I’ve been enjoying quite a lot recently. On I Killed Your Dog, Cheek finds her humanity at odds with her most carnal instincts. When she learns about all the emotional consequences of hurting those you love most, all that pain virtually becomes her own. Sonically, this manifests in soaring brass sections, swirling guitar passages, glimmering synths, and heavily modulated vocal layers that slowly dissolve into a digital abyss. What results is one of the most darkly hypnotic albums I’ve heard all year.
Her performance opened with a soundbite of howls in the distance. As the barks started to melt into one another, L’Rain began not with a song but a single request for the audience: to tune into her performance completely and to not get distracted. To this request, the audience replied with howls and whimpers, all of them completely tapped into the narrative of I Killed Your Dog.
Cheek reassured the audience that the title of course isn’t meant to be literal, though listening to even a single song of hers will make it clear that none of her music has ever really been interested in being literal. Her opening performance of the title track, at least, suggests as much: “I killed your dog / I am your dog / I killed your dog.” She’s literally got that dog in her.
Once she transitioned into “5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG),” however, the disconnect between her live set and the studio version of her album became stark. Whereas the studio version is lowkey and enigmatic, her live set was more like an incredibly explosive free jazz session. As the audience internalized the lines “People in the garden, dressing up for revolution / Can’t keep down, weak constitution / Am I wasted? Hated?”, all of the sad feelings that Cheek harbored on the album now became our own. I couldn’t help but feel a pit in my stomach.
She took somewhat of a reprieve from the explosive I Killed Your Dog tracks when she transitioned into songs off of her 2021 record Fatigue. I was pleasantly surprised to hear her perform “Two Face” and “Find It,” two of my personal favorites from the record but equally as solemn as her previous performances. Cheek’s performance concluded with a few more tracks from I Killed Your Dog, leaving an air of mystery behind in the venue.
The final set of the night was led by Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon. Much like Zsela, Le Bon’s set was relatively minimal, with only a saxophonist, drummer, and her own keyboard accompanying her. For Le Bon though, the minimal design allowed her to take full authority of the stage.
She began her set with “Dirt on the Bed,” the intro track to her 2022 record Pompeii. Crafted at the height of the pandemic, Pompeii depicts Le Bon in a dark place, itching with the need to send off all her inner demons somewhere else. And what better place to do that than Pompeii, where all her sadness can burn into ashes? In fact, when she transitioned into the title track, she made that sentiment very clear: “Every fear / Every fear that I have / I send it to Pompeii.” That’s certainly one way to cope with the dread.
The set also featured tracks off the fan-favorite 2019 record Reward. The best way I can describe the music on Reward is that it feels architected and geometric, as if every piece stacks nicely into a sort of musical Tetris. The blocky synths, warm guitar tones, and weighty keys on songs like “Home to You” sound like they’re magnetically bound into each other, clicking right into place at the most opportune moments.
Either because or despite this, “Sad Nudes” and “Miami” felt heavier than usual, her otherwise dreamlike songs feeling more material in a live setting. In response, the crowd started bumping shoulders and exchanging each other’s body heat, the atmosphere quickly growing more physical by the minute. As I scanned the room, I noticed that all that intimacy eventually collapsed into two girlfriends next to me. Being in that atmosphere, being in proximity to this couple sharing their love for each other and for Le Bon, I finally understood the tone of Le Bon’s music just a bit better.
To say that the tone of Le Bon’s music is simply sad wouldn’t be accurate. Rather, it’s a manifestation of the melancholic desolation left over after losing her lover. I almost felt a little dumb for not realizing this, especially when she performed “Daylight Matters.” After all, the chorus of the song kind of spells it out for you: “Love you, I love you, I love you, I love you / But you’re not here.” As the couple next to me shared a warm embrace, both they and I had a mutual understanding that we sing of sad things because we know what it’s like to lose something truly precious to us.
But of course, tonight’s not a night of loss. In the words of Mega Bog, tonight’s a “celebration of endurance.” In more ways than one, the night marked the year’s worth of endurance for both Mexican Summer and the audience members. As we close off the year in our own ways, whether it’s through a 15 year anniversary or a Spotify Wrapped, we’ve all congregated at the El Rey to put a wrap on all the loving, working, and surviving we’ve done over the past few months. We leave behind all the sadness for tonight, because right now we’re celebrating another trip around the sun.
