In 2017 The Washington Post declared the death of the electric guitar based on the gradual crash in sales seen throughout North America. At that time, it would have been difficult to account for the recent plethora of “spare” time folks would have to take up long lusted-after hobbies. While this year has seen a renaissance in the sales of musical instruments, many already practiced musicians have been left wondering if they will ever play for a live crowd again—if this is the death of touring and the music scenes as they knew and loved. While a great many bands reluctantly dissolve into the pandemic ether, others have taken the opportunity to make more vulnerable work. Live audiences have been replaced with the intimate listenership that occurs in people’s bedrooms and headphones—settings that encourage the kind of candor that technology tends to buffer.
For this month’s edition of Special Presentation Art Mail, Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes plays music with Nick Short and Catalina Valenzuela to make four songs under the title Little Demoed. This 15 minute EP includes two original songs written by Catalina and Marisa as well as two covers: one by Saint Vincent and the other by Kate NV. Marisa plays drums, bass and lead guitar while Catalina plays rhythm guitar and sings her own lyrics. On the Kate NV cover, Catalina has translated the Russian lyrics into Spanish. Nick has engineered and produced the four songs in CHOMS, a shared jam space and recording studio. Nick also plays ambient keyboard and drums on the “Marafon 15” track. Classically trained pianist, Diana Sims, was invited to write and play her own compositions over the song “Looper.”
This collaborative endeavour was conceived and produced on the stolen traditional and ancestral Indigenous lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.
Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes is an artist working fondly with photos, sculpture and music. Her most recent exhibition, Everything Leaks, was at the Polygon Gallery with Maya Beaudry.
Catalina Valenzuela Varas was born and raised in Santiago, Chile. She is now based out of Vancouver, BC. Aside from her design practice and her guitar-playing, she also enjoys having a good time.
Nick Short is a musician and a self-taught audio engineer. He runs CHOMS, a recording studio and jam space, with his friends.
Diana Sims is a multidisciplinary artist born in Pittsburgh and new to "Vancouver." She is primarily interested in beauty and the eternal.
CHOMS, founded in 2016, is located at 102-1055 East Cordova and currently serves as a communal practice space for musicians and bands, as well as a recording and audio post-production studio. CHOMS has worked extensively with Vancouver's local DIY music scene, with out-of-town artists from Seattle to Toronto, and with community-oriented music projects.
Number 3 Gallery is a mobile curatorial project focused on initiating tangential collaborations with contemporary artists and spaces. As a satirical response to the lack of feasible real-estate in “Vancouver’s” economic landscape, projects take place in a variety of contexts and question the ways in which access determines success and visibility. Number 3 Gallery is organized and curated by Julie D. Mills and Julia Lamare.