Two Memphis Queens-Marcella Simien and TalibaH Safiya-Team Up for a Special Performance at Crosstown Theater

Following the celebrated release of her transformative debut solo album, To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled, Louisiana swamp soul artist Marcella Simien is set to unveil an extended edition on January 24. To celebrate the release, Marcella will perform at Crosstown Theater on January 25 in an exclusive co-bill show with the soulful Talibah Safiya. The evening will also feature the experimental and immersive sounds of Infinity Stairs, promising a night of genre-defying performances that highlight the depth and diversity of Memphis’ music scene.

Prior to the concert, we caught up with both women for a preview of what fans can expect from the most anticipated show of the year so far.

Before we get into the upcoming show, let’s play a bit of catch-up. You both released some of our favorite projects of 2024, which we’d love to hear about, but let us know what else you’ve been up to in recent weeks/months:

Marcella Simien: I’m feel so honored and flattered! Thank you for supporting and listening to the new music. I’ve been building a new live experience involving a cylindrical art installation I’ve built with my amazing group of collaborators: my husband Dustin, plus Yvonne Bobo and Graham Burks. It’s a metal structure Graham and I designed and Yvonne did a beautiful fabrication. When we build it out for shows, we adhere screens on the exterior and we project imagery onto the cylinder. It’s been a really exciting new chapter and it’s allowed me to integrate my visual art degree into my music career in a whole new way. I just released a 90’s club inspired dance song I wrote with Ryan Peel called Manifest It. I’m about to release the deluxe version of the album including remixes, instrumentals, a meditation track and an alternate version of Lelia. I’m really excited to be exploring new sonic avenues and writing more than ever! Also been integrating music into special yoga monthly events I’ve been offering around Memphis. Just played Sony Hall in NYC this weekend. Feeling overjoyed to be able to do the work I’m currently doing.

Talibah Safiya: Lately, I’ve been focused on my next rollout for a new project. I’ve been reading a lot, cooking, resting, hanging out with my boo. We’re very much in winter mode.

How did this collaborative concert first come together, and have you two ever worked together before?

MS: Talibah and I actually met through Memphis’s favorite music advocate, Elizabeth Cawein, in 2018 where we were partnered up for the first annual Tambourine Bash. We developed a mutual admiration for each other’s work and then reconnected in 2023 where Talibah invited me to play the frottoir and sing background vocals on Black Magic. Then it sparked ann excitement about working together. I joined her at Riverbeat, she joined me at Overton Park Shell. Then I did a lil percussion and sang on her song “Sure Thang.” And we just both have a lot of parallels in our work and similar ideologies. I’m honored to call Talibah a friend and a sister in sound- because she is truly a brilliant artist who inspires me.

TS: Our first time working together was for the Tambourine Bash in 2019 (love to Elizabeth Cawein of MEM). I recently found a recording of us rehearsing for the first time and we just sound so good singing “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu. Since then, we’ve added some fairy dust to a few tracks for each other and made guest appearances at each other’s shows. That seed started a friendship that has been watered over time.

Without giving away too much, what can fans expect in terms of what you have planned for the show? Will you be performing together, separately, or a bit of both?

MS: We will def do a lil somethin together! We have our own sets, but there will definitely be collaboration happening. We have sonic elements of African, Blues, Electronic, Creole and ofcourse Soul. Since my new album was me on all the instruments I’m entering new territory, working with electronics as well as live instrumentation. It’s going to be a fun and entirely new way to experience my music.

TS: We will be doing our own thing and supporting each other. We want our audiences to connect because we have such similar themes and sonic journeys, we know they’d be delighted to discover one through the other.

Infinity Stairs (the A/V project of Graham Burks) will be providing visuals during the show as well. For the uninitiated, could you tell us a bit about his work and how you all collaborated for this particular show?

MS: I saw Graham’s work when he did his first maiden voyage of his project Infinity Stairs that he and Thomas Corbin have been developing. They did something at Black Lodge and I saw video and I was completely blown away at the experience. I thought I was going to be a digital cinema major when I first got into MCA, and had dreams of being a music supervisor. So my love for placing music with imagery and vice versa- started very young watching Michel Gondry films where Jon Brion worked on the score and a huge inspiration for me was Mark Mothersbaugh and Wes Anderson and those soundtracks helped shape my music taste early on as a pre-teen. I always wanted to dig into imagery with music, because since I was a kid I was a BIG dreamer and when I let my imagination lead the way I was able to tap into a whole other level of my artistry.

And so seeing what Graham was doing cracked my consciousness on video art wide open!!! I had been teaching his song Graham III voice lessons and then reached to him about collaborating for this new show idea I had. Dustin and I started with a geodesic dome we bought and built that did not go as planned 😂 so we tried another structure for the Eyes On music video and that was cool but we knew we could do better and I wanted a softer edge, a round shape, I intentionally wanted soft lines for this because it lends itself to the content of the album. Circles are wonderful places to connect and sit in community. So we created another circular shape, the cylinder.

Graham and I have worked closely for the last year developing the show. I knew the color story of the album as I was writing the songs, I knew going into the project that I wanted the live experience to be otherworldly. I used chakra points that related to the stories of the songs and the colors that corresponded with those chakra points. I referenced elements in nature, celestial patterns and ether. And there’s just so much compelling imagery that Graham and Corbin put together based on a long idea sheet I wrote out of what I envisioned would resonate with each song. Each song has its own lil visual matrix that helps to tell the story. I don’t wanna give away too much.

Graham is a genius at projection mapping and he’s not only a brilliant multi-instrumentalist but he is a bonafide computer whiz. Dustin and I have learned so much from him. Then with Dustin’s knowledge of live sound and his visual art background working in glass sculpture and neon signs for over 20 years. And Thomas Corbin has a great eye, and our aesthetic is aligned, so when we all lend our talents – it makes for a stellar team. I feel blessed to be creating with these folks who are just as excited about the work as I am!

Graham uses state of the art technology and outdated old tech too in his visual creations. Which I love! He has an appreciation for the old and is up to speed on all the current innovative tools for our toolbox. He’s worked on shows at the planetarium, he’s working on visuals for some upcoming projects on a national level. I’m so glad people are taking notice on a National scale, because he is insanely talented, he and his work deserves to be celebrated. This is such an innovative exciting moment for Memphis music. I love this creation of more immersive multi-disciplinary work.

This is an amazing way to help kick off 2025, so we don’t want to be greedy, but do you have anything else planned for the year that we should be anticipating?

MS: 2025 is going to be fun, I cannot wait for Talibah’s new music- I got to hear her new body of work… and y’all! I’m so excited. headed out to play the Legendary Rhythm and Blues cruise literally the next day after the Crosstown Theater show! Then headed to play Montreal in February.

I have some dates as a special guest with my father’s band in the spring. I’ll be down in New Orleans around JazzFest for a few solo and special guest performances. We are planning to bring this new show overseas. And I have another single slated to come out in the coming months. And who knows? Maybe you’ll see me and Talibah on tour together in the future!

TS: New music, of course!

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