Globelamp
The Echo
6/2/14
Elizabeth Le Fey, aka Globelamp, was a touring member of Foxygen last year when she took to Tumblr to expose the turmoil that existed between her then-boyfriend Sam France and bandmate Jonathan Rado. Considering that act's near-demise, she's been called their “Yoko.”
But for the moment, that's all history. Last night Globelamp played The Echo, celebrating the re-release of Star Dust, her full-length album produced by France (originally a five-track EP), which now includes six additional tracks. France removed his name off Star Dust – it was a bad breakup.
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Le Fey, a Mission Viejo-native who now lives in Culver City, wore for her performance a goth-inspired burial dress.
The stage was illuminated by tiny star-lights and two actual globe lamps.
The lack of a band just added to the beautiful loneliness of her words and spellbinding voice – which has a manic quality that shifts between a shivering falsetto and the forcefulness of Grace Slick.
She opened the set with “Warrior,” a magical trip that sounds a bit like Cassie Ramone gone solo.
Unfortunately, her reverb-heavy guitar seemed to flood her vocals – just too much echo.
Still, Le Fey managed to mesmerize the local crowd, which included her mom and local producer Joel Jerome (Babies on Acid/Cherry Glazerr), who was absolutely giddy when she played “Washington Moon.”
It's a song that never made it onto Star Dust, but has the serene-yet-restless nature of her sound, which blends '60s folk with Syd Barret-tinged psychedelia. “Washington Moon” touches on Le Fey's dual love-affair with California and Olympia, WA, where she interned at K Records in 2010 and began her musical journey.
The fourth song and perhaps the highlight was “Daddy's Gone,” the hardest rocker of the set. It included a guitar-riff that sounded like a gypsy-folk reinterpretation of Norman Greenbaum's “Spirit in the Sky.” The song itself, however, is quite the opposite of Greenbaum's inspirational anthem; it seems to unleash Le Fey's sinister side. She seems most comfortable on the stage when she sings, “Daddy's gone / here I come / like a freight train or a loaded gun / it doesn't matter if you lock your doors / it doesn't matter if you don't want more / you shouldn't have let me in.”
Le Fey currently lives with a friend who breeds black window spiders and chickens. True story.
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