Imagine it’s the year 2054, and human beings have become so infatuated with the instant gratification provided by modern technology that they have lost the basic instinct to experience emotion. A bit disturbing, right?
High-profile Morsel and Warner Brothers-signed songstress Michelle Shaprow will be sharing her interpretation of such a robotic world through an unusual presentation at the Backroom at Bottega on Chapel Street tonight.
The show, sponsored by the Morse College Sudler Fund, will include performances by Shaprow along with Emmy-nominated recording artist Michal Towber, who signed with Olympia Records two years ago.
Shaprow, a junior, is currently building upon her already established recording studio in her apartment, which she shares with her younger sister, Jackie. When asked how she would classify her musical style, she responded abruptly, “I wouldn’t.”
Despite her petite frame and delicate features, Shaprow was very much in charge during a setup rehearsal for the show at Bottega on Wednesday evening. A self-proclaimed multitasker, she is clearly in control of who she is and what she does. Perhaps that’s why Shaprow claims that her hectic schedule of balancing classes and producing music does not hinder her social life at all.
“I go out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night,” she said. Indeed, Shaprow said that a major source of inspiration for her songwriting occurs after she comes back from a party “disillusioned and depressed.”
Israeli native Michal Towber is a guitarist, pianist and vocalist whose music is often compared to that of Sarah McLachlan. Towber’s second album, titled Darjeling, shared a production team with Fiona Apple.
Towber and Shaprow first met on the set of a campus-sponsored French musical, and have been close ever since. Towber got her start doing gigs at New York City night spots while still in high school, though she has been writing songs since she was 13. But music is not her only talent. Towber is a theater studies major and will be performing on an episode of “One Life to Live” next week.
As if that’s not enough, the Calhoun sophomore is headlining the Habitat for Humanity concert taking place Feb. 6 in the Morse dining hall.
Asked how she maintains her sanity in the midst of her whirlwind of activities, Towber responded, “I’d much rather be busy and exhausted than bored.”
Both Shaprow and Towber will be performing three songs apiece at the Bottega Backroom tonight. Plans for an advertised earlier showing for those under 21 fell through; there will be another presentation of Shaprow’s Sudler project in Morse in the near future.