Somewhere in the descriptive memory of contemporary music, electroclash will appear there, with a brief but intense activity. Techno, on the other hand, and its multiple ramifications and fusions, make it flow even today in innovative scenarios, in a genre that transmutes itself. Canadian Marie Davidson rescues these two basic notions, without any revivalism or pretentiousness, in an improbable incursion into electronica with a punk character and an eternal social struggle. The song Work It quickly became a trashy anthem, a mixture of urgency and hedonism – with remixes by Jessy Lanza or Soulwax. One of many doors open to Davidson’s afterhours ballroom, as surprise is a constant. In between, a genuine freedom in squinting at the darkest pop or Nouvelle Vague cinematography as a possible mantra in a world that may have plenty of worlds (and, why not, underworlds?).
There are no predictable paths in Davidson’s work and exploring the five albums he has released to date, an acid vision carried through to the lyrics emerges. If at times it reminds us of the energy of Miss Kittin or Peaches, at other times the material becomes denser and hazier, even neonic. The latest Working Class Woman and Renegade Breakdown carry the stamp of the mythical Ninja Tune and mirror experiences or epiphanies (real and imagined) about the snares of capital, noir scenes and the writing of stale songs – far removed from this time. Someone who constantly re-imagines herself, the artist makes herself re-directed by excellent musicians whose nature of her songs takes on various guises and visions.
At an especially fervent time in her career, full of collaborations and various presentations, her coming to Lisbon brings us an ever fleeting but essential glimpse of an enigmatic constellation called Marie Davidson. NA