Eve Maret Introduces the World to ‘New Noise’

Approaching East Nashville Thursday evening, it didn’t seem like the sun was all that interested in going down. It hung around during rush hour, beaming languidly through the thick blanket of muggy heat unrolled by the afternoon’s showers. In the relative cool of Red Arrow Gallery, however, there was a great hustle and bustle as final preparations were made for Eve Maret’s album release party. The electronic musician, composer and community organizer’s fifth LP New Noise had just been released, and all manner of keyboards, laptops, stringed and wind instruments, cameras, projectors, speakers and lights were getting a final test ahead of the celebration.

Around 7 p.m., a hush fell suddenly over the folks who’d filed in — about 30, though the number would keep growing through the night — as Netherina Noble took her mic. With her production collaborator The Orbit Sound managing the contemplative R&B-schooled beats, she kept the crowd silent with her rich, poised voice, which you might expect to hear singing ballads with a big band or an orchestra in a different century. Songs like her opener “High Seas” — Noble told the audience Maret helped bring the as-yet-unreleased recording to life — focus on self-reliance. 

Her lyrics don’t shy away from the discomfort that can come with gaining self-confidence, and her cover of Clairo’s “I Wouldn’t Ask You” lines up neatly alongside her originals. Another piece, which rides on rhythms from hip-hop and spoken-word, addresses the long-lasting impact of the narrator’s mother’s death. The song may or may not be about Noble’s own life experience, but she made it feel deeply personal.

After a quick break, Proteins of Magic, aka New Zealand-born Nashvillian Kelly Sherrod, put the finishing touches on her setup. As Sherrod’s stage look includes teasing her hair into faun horns and a bit of a devilock, you might forgive someone on the other side of the gallery’s roll-up glass door for thinking a Misfits tribute was about to happen. Her set did bring the emotional immediacy of the famed Jersey horror-punks, but in a radically different way. Built around patient but insistent rhythms, her songs have layers of performances on bass, acoustic guitar, keys and flute that she records into a looper in real time and manipulates expertly, all while singing in a powerful voice that would shine in a chorus. 

She deftly shifts from intimate examination of fine details to expression on a Cinemascope scale, exploring an array of life experiences, from “Switchblade” — a song she told us was about “a boundary crosser” — to her recent single “Divine Physics,” which considers how a long-ago relationship can simultaneously mean a great deal and not much in the grand cosmic scheme of things. The set even had evocative animation that Sherrod controlled with a pedal; it was an immersive presentation that could work well in this intimate setting or at a festival like Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, where WNXP’s Celia Gregory recently caught up with her. Mark your calendars: Proteins of Magic has an EP due in early 2024 called By Ear.

When Maret was nearly ready to begin, lights were turned off around the room. One of the switches that was flipped inadvertently cut power to her gear, a subtle reminder that we were in a space typically used for other purposes. Fittingly, Maret — resplendent in a sequined suit with slicked-back hair reminiscent of Roxy Music-era Eno — had just thanked the gallery’s owners for supporting her somewhat unusual happening. It bears repeating that venues — whether they’re conventional ones or not — being willing to book creative endeavors that may not have a guaranteed crowd draw is critical to the health of any city’s music ecosystem. 

Finally, all the gear was communicating properly again, and Maret kicked off her brief but wide-ranging set with a suite of shape-shifting drones and slowly flashing lights that felt like an orchestra tuning up. Using drum machines, synths, samplers, a vocoder, a clarinet and even an electric guitar that she told us she was playing in front of an audience for the first time, she welcomed us into the latest phase of her ever-evolving sonic expression. For a little more than 20 minutes, quiet motorik heartbeats morphed into funky proto-rap beats, and arpeggiated loops swelled and exploded like fireworks left over from the Fourth of July in songs old and new. Meanwhile, the lights danced, making the shadows of Maret and her rig part of the show across the gallery’s white wall. 

As the set drew to a close, two lyrics stood out, too: “I need a break from the noise” and “I guess I’ll make my own kind of noise,” as she sang in “New Noise,” just before she guided the floating threads of sound into a black hole of harsh metallic squeals. The song, reflective of Maret’s work in general, takes a stand in a world humming with chaos; even if you can’t control it, there are ways to orient yourself within it. Infused with this energy, conversation buzzed as DJ Afrosheen took to the decks and the gathering slowly dissolved into the night.

Features

Eve Maret Fuses Pop and Classical Music on ‘New Noise’

• Edd Hurt

Features

Analog Synth Mastermind Eve Maret Won’t Be Boxed In

• Charlie Zaillian

Nashville Cream

Eve Maret Goes With the Flow in ‘H2O’

• Stephen Trageser

The Spin

Eve Maret, Dream Chambers, Peachy and More Get in the Spirit for Drkmttr

• Edd Hurt