Pogo Bar:
Elizabete Balčus
Hotel Universe
© Ričards Ozols
The Latvian musician and performance artist Elizabete Balčus creates neo-psychedelic dream-pop from collaged genre juxtapositions. Her soundscapes and audiovisual performances emerge from a peculiar musical cosmos with unusual interconnections; her stage appearance morphing between eccentric, diva-like form and postmodern digital animation. Using an evocative visual aesthetic, her work draws upon surrealism, contemporary fashion and geometric imagery. In a similarly eclectic vein, her musical explorations defy any limitation: echoing loops of flute and ethereal voice are layered on top of free-jazz improvisation and classical pieces, clicking electro-pop beats side with the playing of fruits and vegetables as synthesizers. Leading the listeners into a kind of disorienting hypnosis, Balčus weaves a sonic state of trance oscillating between waking and sleeping. Instruments and voice are interspersed, distorted and filtered to abstraction, and from humble beginnings forms a mesmerizing symphony of enigmatic sound.
For the Pogo Bar series, Elizabete Balčus will perform her album Hotel Universe which was released via the Montreal-based label Mothland in September 2022.
Elizabete Balčus was born in Riga and grew up in a particularly creative environment, playing in various theater productions before entering school. At an early age Balčus started her education at the music school and specialized in flute. She participated in various competitions for young flutists and always won first place. Later, she continued her studies at the Latvian Academy of Music Jāzeps Vītols in two departments simultaneously, studying both classical music and jazz music. She also studied voice, composition and flute at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. In 2011, she independently released the EP Wooden Horse, which won the Annual Latvian Music Recording Award for Best Debut. In late 2016, Balčus released her album Conarium on the British label Liminal Noise. The album received a nomination at the Annual Latvian Music Recording Awards 2017 for the best alternative or indie pop album of the year, as well as a nomination for the Latvian “Mercury Prize” – Austras balva – for the best album of 2017.