Thor & Friends
Fire Museum Presents started putting on events for adventurous arts lovers in Philly in 2007, but between my departure the following year and my return during Covid, I only just discovered them earlier this year, and I finally made it out to a show tonight. It was also my first visit to the Maas Building, a former brewery, which has carved out a charming upstairs event space among its artist studios. It was a perfect place to see Thor & Friends, backed up by a seven-piece formulation of the local chamber ensemble, Hour, who also opened the show. The group, consisting of mallets, strings, reeds, piano, and electric guitar and bass, mostly improvised behind Thor Harris and Sarah “Goat” Gautier’s arpeggiated marimba chord progressions, and while the whole performance was enjoyable, it really came together for me at the end when it tightened up with a more established composition: “Anne Sexton’s Monocle,” a track from last year’s Heathen Spirituals. I’ve been a fan of Thor ever since I first saw him play in Swans back in 2010, and it was great to see him in the spotlight in a quieter, more intimate environment tonight.
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