Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton Live at the Masonic Lodge, Los Angeles

In the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton closed out her tour in support of her new album, Choir of the Mind, at the Masonic Lodge Tuesday evening. Angelenos were graced with not one, but two shows that night, having the opportunity to see the Metric front woman’s first performance of her solo project in ten years. 

Haines’ Soft Skeleton offers music far more vulnerable and soft than her Metric counterparts. On her website she explains, “I found myself filled with a desire to achieve as much as possible using little more than the contents of my mind and my voice.” This was achieved both on Choir of the Mind and in live performance.

The show executed by Haines was an expression of showmanship and story — it was a step beyond your typical concert. On the track “Choir of the Mind,” Haines sings, “Failure whispers sad how hard she tries.” These lyrics essentially set up the foundation for her performance. Throughout the show, a pre-recorded voice over played between songs to establish a narrative. During the first part, Haines sang alone.

She walked out onto the stage from the back of the room with a briefcase in hand and continued to act out waking up in the morning and the sort of routine that follows: getting dressed, brushing teeth, questioning your self worth. She laid on her back to open with the haunting, yet dreamy “Planets.” “Hours to spend / hours to burn,” she pondered. After, voice over Emily questioned, “What’s this elusive revelation you’re after?” The crowd witnessed Haines’ thoughts as her own worst critic. For “Wounded,” she made her way to the piano. For much of the night, she stayed in that very spot — Haines does, after all, find supreme comfort at the piano. She said on her website, “When I figured out that I could be in any room anywhere, and as long as there was a piano in the corner, everything was going to be fine.”

It came time for voice over Emily to quiet. Haines began to play a more upbeat song and a robotic male voice announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton,” as the band walked on to the stage. The quartet played “Our Hell,” the second song of the night from Knives Don’t Have Your Back, and continued with three more songs from that album.

Not until over halfway through the set did Emily finally address the crowd: “Well this is the best ending to the most fucked up year… I don’t want to leave this room.” She explained that they, being the crowd and band, were creating an experience together. “Play some more jams. Stay in this room, yeah?” she asked before buckling back down into music mode. It was time for “Legend of the Wild Horse.”

The climax of Haines’ narrative came as “Fatal Gift.” The song started slow, with the band waiting to jump in part way through to reveal anxiety-saturated thoughts: “And you own it and it owns you. And you own it and it owns you…” over and over. The sound grew and Haines stared at the crowd, as if daring to feel too. She bailed from center and danced as if experiencing an exorcism. When the song mellowed, the crowd burst into a standing ovation. Emily and her trio came to center stage, waved and exited.

But it wasn’t the end. Any good close brings the story full circle, and so it was imperative that Haines come back to finish her story. In a bright orange hoodie with only her voice to rely on, she sang “Strangle All the Romance.” It was the most vulnerable moment of the night: “Love is my labor of life.” The song played out into a recording of cheers, which faded into jeers. Hunched over, she stuck a middle finger in the air. She could not be defeated. Then, away from her comfort zone, a piano track played. Haines closed out the night with the title track, “Choir of the Mind,” with feminine certainty.

Set List:

Solo

1. Planets
2. Wounded
3. Crowd Surf Off a Cliff
4. Nihilist Abyss

With The Soft Skeleton

1. Our Hell
2. Detective Daughter
3. Mostly Waving
4. The Maid Needs a Maid
5. Statuette
6. Minefield of Memory
7. Sprig
8. Legend of the Wild Horse
9. Doctor Blind
10. Reading in Bed
11. Winning
12. Fatal Gift

Encore

1. Strangle All Romance (acapella)
2. Choir of the Mind