Far Out Fest Explores the Psychedelic Experience in Art and Music

The first use of the word “psychedelic” was in 1956, according to Merriam-Webster, and referred specifically to LSD and other psychoactive drugs. Altered perception played key roles in cultural and religious experiences for centuries before that, which helps account for the enormous variety of art and music that falls under the umbrella of psychedelic expression — even now, when psychedelic drugs are illegal across much of the world. 

Psychedelia isn’t new to Nashville, but in recent years there’s been a marked increase in the number of psych-inclined musicians, painters, video artists and light-show performers living and working here. In a city that’s growing as quickly as ours, it takes some work to bring these folks together. Enter Far Out Nashville, the organization founded by Kari Leigh Ames and Brianne O’Neill, which hosts its second annual Far Out Fest Thursday through Saturday.

“I feel like a lot of music and arts festivals really focus on the music still, and don’t even really put that spotlight on the painters or other people who are involved with it,” Ames tells the Scene. “I feel like the psychedelic visual artists in this town don’t necessarily cross paths with a lot of the musicians or even light-show people. … Our ultimate goal is to connect all these people together and see them go on to do other things.”

Far Out uses music as the foundation on which to build those connections. Drawing inspiration from Milwaukee Psych Fest and Austin’s Levitation, Ames and O’Neill have booked Nashville groups as well as touring acts from across the country to play alternating sets at Mercy Lounge and The High Watt on Friday and Saturday. 

Hometown players include Diatom Deli, which makes gentle and inventive folk-rooted tunes; Wu Fei, wizard of the guzheng, a 21-string Chinese zither; drone- and riff-focused outer blues explorers Ttotals; heavy shoegaze outfit Fragments of God, reunited after a five-year hiatus; and the dreamy Black Moon Mother, fronted by O’Neill. Among the touring attractions are Cincinnati’s Electric Citizen, worthy heirs to Black Sabbath’s throne; San Francisco’s Al Lover, inspired by experimental electronic artists from the ’60s and ’70s; Washington, D.C.’s The Beginner’s Mynd, folks of a tripped-out pop-folk persuasion; and Knoxville’s The Holifields, who blend a slew of ’70s-vintage psych-pop ideas on their recent album Hugo Holifield and the Atomic Phaser.

Though there are even more facets of psychedelia than are showcased here, the wide-ranging bill is notable for Ames and O’Neill’s deliberate effort to include women and people of color, who are represented in nine of the 15 acts set to play. The fest also highlights work from a diverse group of visual artists, starting with the liquid light performances by The Southern Demon Herd, Window Light Show and Ames’ Labrys Light Show. Those performances will add another sensory layer to many of the bands’ sets. 

There will also be separate installations by video artists Sophia Gordon and Jake Johnston; another by Shahnaz Lighari, whose work includes drawings, paintings and photography; and Kennon Lorick’s studio Meadow Speak, which will create a floral arch in the hallway between Mercy Lounge and The High Watt. Turnip Green Creative Reuse, the East Nashville collective that offers recycled materials for creative projects, is putting together a community installation that visitors will be able to contribute to throughout the fest. A special highlight of Saturday is a pop-up market featuring vendors like the occult gift and supply shop Draconis Arcanum and Holly Schuldt’s upcycled and handmade fashion line Holly and the Hare.

The component of this year’s Far Out Fest that might do the most for furthering connections between art forms is the inaugural Far Out Film Fest, which happens Thursday night at Third Man Records. John Warren, a filmmaker and Vanderbilt University lecturer (who worked at last year’s Far Out as part of the DigDeep Light Show), put out an open call for films and enlisted the help of two former students to sort through submissions. They narrowed it down to a two-hour program that includes films by Nashvillians as well as filmmakers from across the U.S. and Canada, plus one from Hungary and another from Iran. The thread connecting the selected pieces is the challenge of expressing something about a different view of reality within the constraints of that reality.

“I think that a uniting factor in psychedelic music and films that could be termed ‘psychedelic’ is that it’s … more interested in the quest or the search, more so than answers,” says Warren. “A movie about the psychedelic experience, it’s a fixed object — the film itself won’t ever change. But the psychedelic experience is a purely subjective thing. It’s sort of at the opposite end of the pole, in a way. So, how can one person even make an objective film document of this very purely subjective psychedelic experience?”

While indulging in recreational chemical enhancements isn’t necessary to enjoy psychedelic art in general or this festival in particular, the Far Out organization is making a contribution to research that could help develop a cultural space for psychedelic drugs. A portion of the proceeds from the fest will go to the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which supports investigation into careful and safe uses for psychedelics in areas like treating post-traumatic stress.