Tei Shi Pulls Her Audience in Close on the Make Believe I Make Believe Tour
Tei Shi showcased her latest and 5th studio album, Make Believe I Make Believe, on the first night of her North American Tour at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles.
WORDS & PHOTOS: Marcus Carrillo / @marcus.illo
Fluidity and flow are the words that come to mind when thinking of Tei Shi. The Colombian/Canadian artist has a world and then some to draw inspiration from, and it’s as apparent as ever on her latest LP –– Make Believe I Make Believe brings audiences on a journey that captures her artistic present, uninterrupted and self-assured. The songstress emerged onto the music scene in 2013 with her EP, Saudade, and has since gone on to captivate audiences through her signature blending of indie pop, alt R&B, Latin, and synth pop, with electronic production. Though it feels misleading to try and pin a genre to an artist who possesses such fluency within their own artistry that their sound transcends category and label.
Make Believe I Make Believe brings audiences on a journey that captures her artistic present, uninterrupted and self-assured. Last weekend, she kicked off her North American tour at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles.
Twisting, twirling, and contouring her body under aquatic blue and glowing orange lights, her soprano stuns audiences with sharp vocalization, delicate falsetto, sweet melody, and soaring belts. Everything about her performance feels elemental. If production allowed it, you’d imagine rain pouring down from above as she danced across the stage. Sharing with audiences that this album was birthed in a week on an island in Nanaimo, BC – also the title of the last song on the album – you see it everywhere in her performance.
Possessed with spirit, her feet move across the stage as though barefoot, and her voice sings to the sky above. “Drop Dead,” “Montón,” “Don’t Cry,” and “222” showcase her gliding vocals and rhythmic production. Songs like “Best Be Leaving” and “Which Half” are tender, vulnerable, and revealing. An album favorite of mine, “Iris,” a bedroom pop rock about reckless and emancipated love, feels pulled from the pages of a diary. “Aphrodite” is a sensual, smooth, and self-assured track about sexual prowess and desire laid over a moody Spanish guitar. “Nanaimo” is the song you listen to at take off, with breathy vocals and a twangy guitar echoing in the distance. It sits gently at the end of her album, reminding us that with every end there is a beginning.
It’s a treat and, albeit a rare one, to see an artist in a moment like this. To capture a specific moment in time, sonically or emotionally, and share it with the world is daunting. Projects born in such a short time can feel rushed, repetitive, or unclear, but not in this case. Tei Shi has created a body of work that feels fresh, precise, and thoughtful, and her performance at the Lodge Room was intimate and celebratory.
Revealing on stage that these songs didn’t even exist a year ago, there is an element of freedom that is refreshing and deeply captivating in her performance. The Make Believe I Make Believe tour showcases an artist who has mastered their craft and isn’t afraid to go somewhere new. If Tei Shi wants to go to Nanaimo, then we do too, and lucky for us, she’ll spend the better part of this year and early next year touring across North America and Europe.
Check out photos from her show at the Lodge Room and be sure to see her on tour!
