Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Lyra Pramuk, Loraine James, Hyd & more played night 1 of Outline: Spring (pics)

Queens arts center Knockdown Center kicked off the spring edition of its Outline series on Saturday night (4/30) with a lineup full of experimental, electronic, and ambient gems. The night began with —__–___, the collaborative project of Orange Milk co-founder Seth Graham and Austin-based artist Mari Maurice, aka More Eaze, and More Eaze stayed on stage to perform with another collaborator, Claire Rousay, who was also joined by Theodore Cale Schafer. Claire recently released a new album, Everything Perfect Is Already Here, and Never Stop Texting Me, a collaboration with More Eaze; her ambient sets are some of the most compelling around, at turns beautiful and lulling, confessional, and confrontational. At one point she came offstage and walked up to the barricade, inviting people to talk about a time they felt uncomfortable. Multiple spoken accounts overlapped into a cacophony of voices, enriching the sound.

Hyd, aka QT co-creator Hayden Dunham, was up next with a dynamic set of mutant pop off their great 2021 debut solo EP. Following them was Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, who created layered, hypnotic soundscapes in front of a kaleidoscope of shimmering, psychedelic jewel tone visuals, leaving the crowd in a trance.

Lyra Pramuk broke that trance with spells of her own, bringing otherworldly vocal acrobatics to what she said was her second NYC show ever. The set was also her first with her two bandmates, who she hadn't had time to rehearse with; you wouldn't have known it from how fantastic they sounded, and they had the crowd dancing, especially on their final song, a Hudson Mohawke remix of "Tendril" that was the only song of the set to feature drums.

Loraine James, closing out the night, kept the whole floor moving with her killer set, which was her US live debut. She just released a couple of new collaborative tracks with fellow London electronic musician TSVI, following her self-titled album as Whatever The Weather and acclaimed 2021 LP Reflection.

See pictures from the whole night below.

Outline: Spring continues tonight (5/1) at Knockdown Center with another killer lineup, featuring Rostam, L'Rain, Arooj Aftab, and Cassandra Jenkins. Tickets are still available. UPDATE: Rostam was unfortunately forced to drop off the bill because of people testing positive for Covid in his touring party.

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