Eartheater performed at The Underground Arts in Philadelphia, PA for her “Powders” album tour.
On a foggy night at The Underground Arts in Philadelphia, down the stairs and around the corner, Eartheater fans congregate around the stage. The smoke dissipates suddenly as Concrete Husband approaches the mic. Thrashing and playing the flute like an electric guitar and floating between two mics at the front and back of the stage, he opens the show with an eerie electronic-flute fusion of dance beats. Concrete Husband’s music, coming from a sonic planet similar to Eartheater’s, made the perfect introduction for the show to come. He would later join Eartheater to offer winds during her set.
With heavenly strings and pulsing synths, the cinematic “Powders” album opener “Sugarcane Switch” begins, as Eartheater materializes in a leather corset and velvet purple dress. Following a bombastic climax ending the song, lush ocean waves wash in over a kick drum transitioning into, “Crushing”, as the crowd cheers, recognizing the sultry, second lead single from the era. Before performing “Face in the Moon,” Eartheater explains how the song feels very Pennsylvania to her and how good it felt to be performing the song in her home state.
Eartheater plays the entire “Powders” album chronologically, omitting the atmospheric, very last song. With the inclusion of live percussion, the project was reimagined for their live performance with a more brash, punk-influenced delivery.
“Powders,” released in September, is Eartheater’s first new, full-length project since the release of “Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin” in 2020. She described the thesis of “Powders” to be how everything, from love to heartbreak, can be ground down into powder and concocted into something new. “Powders” delves into an eclectic combination of genres, including trip-hop, electronic, acoustic folk and art pop sounds.
In “Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin,” Eartheater explored themes of transformation and rebirth, rising a Phoenix from the ashes with each song. “Powders” similarly explores personal transformation with the lens of the changemaker being powders that she made by synthesizing and grinding up her past experiences.
Following the trap-influenced high tide from her 2019 album “Trinity,” Eartheater exclaims “I won’t make y’all wait”— in reference to the encore, which is also a lyrical theme repeated throughout “Trinity.” Though leaving behind her wings for this era, the encore was a selection of three acoustic songs from “Phoenix.” Performing songs from the water-themed “Trinity,” fire-themed “Phoenix,” and earth-themed “Powders,” Eartheater shapeshifts, in flux for all her elemental forms.
Eartheater recontextualizes the idea of radical change as the process of grinding our experiences down into a transformative powder that, when ignited, creates something new.
Set List
Sugarcane Switch
Crushing
Face in the Moon
Clean Break
Chop Suey! (System of a Down cover)
Heels over Head
Mona Lisa Moan
Pure Smile Snake Venom
Solid Liquid Gas
High Tide
Encore
How to Fight
Volcano
Below the Clavicle