[ATTENDED: September 17, 2022] Meet the Bug
When Daði Freyr announced his U.S. tour, I grabbed a ticket right away. i wasn’t sure if there would be an opening act. And it wasn’t until a few days before the show that it was announced that Meet the Bug would open. Who is Meet the Bug? We’ll let their bio explain:
Meet the Bug is the solo endeavor of Philadelphia-based bedroom pop polymath Cariahbel Azemar. Her latest EP Beet The Mug is “a vibey meditation on keys and glimmery vocals that tackles heavy childhood trauma from the perspective of an emerging artist realizing the power of her voice.” Azemar uses her songs as a sort of diary, cataloging the highs and lows of coming into adulthood as someone who is both on the spectrum and ADHD.
Born in Port au Prince, Haiti and raised in the Georgia suburbs, Azemar began taking classical piano lessons at the age of four. … While at a performance by one of her primary inspirations, Cavetown, Azemar noticed someone she knew in the opening band – meaning, to her, that maybe she could do this, and so she shall. Thus Meet The Bug was born. Coinciding with the start of the pandemic, Meet The Bug’s early focus was her YouTube channel, where she mostly posts covers and originals. Now an active member of the Philly DIY community, Azemar can be found performing in house venues, bars, and cafe’s about town. Most recently, she played support for Daði Freyr at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia.
Clearly this went up after I saw her.
Her set was delightful. Lyrically the songs might have been a little dark, but they were more angsty and hopeful. But she sang with a gentle voice and, best of all, nearly all of her songs were played on a ukulele–a fairly large ukulele (maybe a small guitar? but i think it had four strings). This gave her songs a kind of sunny vibe.
Then she enhanced or undermined that sunny vibe wit her synth programming. The first song started on the ukulele and when she triggered the beats/bass the whole crowd gasped or sighed or nodded.
She was very open about going to therapy “we love therapy here” and sings a song about a missed opportunity on “Fourth of July”
It’s been a year since I told her On the 4th of July
And I knew she was moving away
But i said it any way
It’s been a year since I told her
What I knew from the start
All the love I had for her
It was tearing me apartSo I wrote a song
I didn’t like it
It sounded wrong
I wrote it again
With different words
And I planned to sing it for herInstead I got drunk on the 4th of July
I tried to look her in the eye
I got drunk, I was horrified
So nervous I took her aside
And we sat on her bed
And I stared straight ahead
And I said I love youIt’s been an year since she left me
And I never sang that song
And she’ll probably never know it exists
And She’ll never sing along
“Nothing Permanent” is about hating a job. She also played the first song from her latest album Beet the Mug called “Cold in the Summer.”
I really liked the lyrics of “Person is a Person”
When did we agree to teach our kids to hate themselves as much as we do
Ashes ashes, dust (dust), cut my ear off if I tell you
I don’t wanna be a person if a person is a person like me x2
If Meet the Bug is looking to stay as a bedroom artist she is on the right trajectory–her sound is soft and warm and even though her lyrics address harsh realities, they are comforting. I’m curious to see where she’ll be in a few years. I hope she opens for Cavetown next time they come to Philly.
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