Original image of Ohma by There Stands the Glass.
Eight musicians made a mockery of genre classifications at the Midland theater in Kansas City on Sunday, October 16. A six-piece ensemble led by FKJ and the duo of Ohma created blissed-out sounds that transcended category for an audience of 2,000 young stoners, graying ravers and cultured globetrotters.
Ohma, the Los Angeles based duo of Mia Garcia and Hailey Niswanger, opened the show with a 30-minute sampling of material from their stunning new album Between All Things. The tasteful application of backing tracks and a boost from extreme volume elevated Garcia’s guitar and Niswanger’s woodwinds.
Peers in California’s improvised music scene including Sam Gendel, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Carlos Niño share Ohma’s ability to draw on multiple styles without diluting the music’s potency. The stage backdrop resembling the visual art of Hilma mf Klint and Georgia O’Keefe offered a clue into Ohma’s intent.
The duo strives to honor the “divine feminine and power within feminine creation.” Ohma compositions such as “Seeing Beyond What Is Here” could be experienced as profound musical representations of O’Keefe’s poetry. Where Ohma’s cosmic improvisations contain no commercial concessions, the music of FKJ is flavored with pop and R&B.
FKJ, aka French Kiwi Juice, is the stage name of Vincent Fenton, a self-described “Paris based self-taught kid.” An extensive palette made Fenton’s 100-minute outing more interesting than the efforts of most electro-funk artists. The solo piano EP he released last year is typical of his propensity to defy expectations.
The multi-instrumentalist was joined by a bassist, drummer and a string trio in a dynamic recital of R&B, yacht-rock, pop, house, ambient and space age bachelor pad music. The hybrid sounds were united by a theme of gentle positivity enhanced by verdant plant-oriented visuals.
One dolt wasn’t receptive to the musical mergers. An impertinent kid accosted me after Ohma’s set. Having seemingly made a connection between my enthusiasm for the duo and my comparatively advanced age, he amused himself by mocking “jazz”- his word, not mine. The innovative one-two punch of Ohma and FKJ indicated the joke’s on him.