The While performing from behind a shadow screen at Kazoo! Fest’s Green Party Office pop up venue. (Photo by Tom Beedham)

If you said The While hid behind a screen for their opening slot at Kazoo! Fest’s Guelph Green Party office pop up venue, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Camera tricks, mood lighting, video, and a shadow screen were all called upon by the band of visual artists to blur the line between themselves and infinity. The special effects made them look bigger than they physically are in terms of headcount and equipment stock, but whether that was as a defense mechanism or just a proper representation of their essence was a debate given legitimacy as they looped not just their visual presence but their instrumentation as well. Adding their visual presence to a foreboding brand of indie folk that relies on a sound mix of foreboding contralto vocals, xylophones, organ, and drums, it was surrealism for your eyes and your ears.