CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE ACTS WE COVERED AT SXSW 2023
AUSTIN, TX-
Excerpted from Original Article
“…Guitar, Bass, Harmonica, Voice. That’s all you need when you have skills. King Margo’s Lucciana Costa and Rachel Coats, a duo predestined by the anagram that is their respective surnames, have skill. In abundance. Seasoned musicians who have found in each other and their sometime collaborators a collective voice that oozes the power of a struggle we can all recognize, whether it be as mundane as dishes undone or as monumental as love lost. As somehow exemplifies an ethos omnipresent at SXSW, King Margo christened our ship with a performance that was so rife with talent that we all felt lucky to be there and yet so unpretentious that we all felt like we belonged.
Technology didn’t hurt. The showcase was sponsored in part by Bose, which normally I could give less than half a shit about because no one pays me to plug their brand (not yet), but as we sailed slowly under the First Street Bridge, King Margo sounded immaculate. Singer, sound system, and a moving landscape. The three elements combined to effect a haunting, almost eerie ambience as King Margo peeled out a melancholy and meditative country dirge. So, high fives to Bose. The outdoor sound on a moving boat was exceptional. You’d have thought the river itself was singing. Slow smooth crisp cool water drifting at the speed of music. Nashville tinged nostalgia resonating at the frequency of the river. Slow and strong moving water; velocity that ebbs and flows but obedient to gravity; that doesn’t stop until it runs dry. Much like the lyrics of a sad song.
As beautiful as it was, thank god the ladies could read the room because as soon as we crossed under the bridge and the sun was back on us, they took a swig of beer, cracked a smile that spelled party, and belted out a story about crime sprees, acrylics, chardonnay, and highway thievery. Floodlights and Sequins is the song. And what is it about a woman getting her bangs cut that creates such a tectonic shift in energy? A couple snips across the brow line and suddenly mugging your date and getting chased across state lines by the cops is a chain of events that is not beyond the realm of reason. I wonder if getting your bangs cut has ever been raised as a defense in a criminal case. “I know I look good, your honor, but it just makes me kinda… wild.”
Special shout out to Gabe Lee, who joined the ladies for a few songs. The man exudes a quiet and confident gravitas and clearly has the respect and love of his peers. And I can’t say I’ve crossed paths with too many Taiwanese-American country singers. Reinforces my heartfelt belief that all genres, at their core, offer an opportunity to connect. But it feels a bit reductive to get identitarian when Gabe is the authentic article. So while I think more diverse representation in the orbit of country and americana is an interesting topic more than worthy of discussion, that’s a rabbit hole — or river — we can dive down another time…”
*********************
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE ACTS WE COVERED AT SXSW 2023
LIVE CLIPS
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE ACTS WE COVERED AT SXSW 2023
Comments
