Photo of Object Collective by Henrik Beck
 
Object Collection, an experimental performance outfit from Brooklyn, has recorded an “opera-in-suspension” based on the Fugazi Live Series. Like a more pretentious “Having Fun on Stage with Fugazi,” all of the opera’s musical and verbal material comes from between-song ephemera:

Grounded upon the Live Archive series of the Washington DC outfit, composer Travis Just and writer/director Kara Feely’s work uses only the incidental music, text and sounds, none of Fugazi’s actual songs. An obsessive leap into 1500 hours of gig detritus spanning shows from 1987 to 2002, and encompassing random feedback, aimless drum noodling, pre-show activist speeches, audience hecklers, and the police breaking up gigs. All of this material is the foundation of an ear-body-and-mind-flossing 100 minutes for 4 voices/performers, 4 electric guitars/basses and 2 percussionists.

The press release describes It’s All True as “a radical incitement to action,” which sounds like a euphemism for massive audience walkouts during the first five minutes. But the members of Fugazi have given the production their blessing. Guy Picciotto says:

All of us were both blown away and disoriented by the work – it was well beyond anything we had anticipated when agreeing to Travis’ early request. We feel moved by Object Collection’s engagement with our archive material and salute everyone involved for their hard work and patience and for wrestling with such integrity with our sounds and words.

It’s All True and the companion EP Prisons for Profit will be released in October and September, respectively. The opera will be performed at London’s Cafe OTO on September 21 and 22 of this year, and at NYC’s La Mama in February of 2018.