Iowa City-based (by way of North Jersey) indie singer-songwriter and bassist Pictoria Vark (aka Victoria Park) performed at MilkBoy Philly on Saturday, February 28th, along with local openers Cold Soul. Vark released her debut LP The Parts I Dread (on Get Better Records) last spring and I’ve been looking forward to catching her live ever since. The Parts I Dread opener “Twin” is sparse in arrangement (with bass harmonics reminiscent of Jaco Pastorius’ “Portrait of Tracy”) but rich in storytelling that carries through on shreddier tracks like “Wyoming”, “I Can’t Bike”, and “Out”. Her Midwest locale just might’ve had an influence on “Good For“, with its frequent mathy time signature changes that make nodding your head along to the song an exercise in futility (but I try anyway). It’s just a fantastic album and it was so awesome to see those songs performed live.
Remixed by NYC-based composer/multi-instrumentalist Rain Johannes, Vark recently released a new version of The Parts I Dread track “Bloodline II” titled “bloodline iii” (stream below). You can also check out the music video for “Wyoming” below and keep scrolling to see more photos from the show.
