sign crushes motorist & Olivia O — Lodge Room — 7.18.2024

The residual heat languidly rose from the black pavement in Highland Park on this quiet Thursday night. I walked into the Lodge Room to Olivia O fiddling on stage with her acoustic and loop pedals, a person with a goblin mask to the side of her sat very still with a sign that read “Questions With No Answers.”

There was a macabre bizarreness to the pageantry used in the show: an ominous person in a goblin mask, the Irish songwriter, Liam McCay, behind the slowcore sign crushes motorist moniker, doused in what looked like blood. It was Halloween in July, bathing suits and the horrors beyond our comprehension together at last.

Of course, it was a good show. Olivia O worked her witch-like mystical powers to create loops on her acoustic guitar and flute. And sign crushes motorist played crowd favorites alongside songs from other projects like Take Care and dead calm. It was indeed a wistful and nostalgic evening fit for Elliot Smith and Duster themselves.