Laura Ann Singh Fracas Quintet / Mowder Oyal

On Friday, August 21, 2026, Rhizome DC presents a double bill pairing Richmond vocalist Laura Ann Singh’s Fracas Quintet with the Baltimore collective Mowder Oyal. The evening opens at 7:00 PM with doors and moves into live music at 7:30 PM, offering two very different but complementary visions of avant-garde sound: Singh’s song-rooted, poetry-infused free jazz and Mowder Oyal’s collision of hardcore punk and free jazz.

Laura Ann Singh, a multilingual vocalist and composer based in Richmond, leads an all-star quintet performing music from her debut album “Mean Reds,” released on OOYH. The album was sparked by her discovery of Asha Puthli’s work on Ornette Coleman’s “Science Fiction.” Though newer to improvised music, Singh is internationally recognized as a founding member of the bolero band Miramar and recently appeared as featured vocalist in Tomeka Reid’s Ellington project. Her approach to free jazz is deliberately song-based, favoring composition and lyric over extended vocal techniques. The Fracas Quintet includes drummer Scott Clark, bassist Adam Hopkins, trumpeter Bob Miller, and reed player John Lilley. Clark’s slow-moving, drone-heavy style, shaped by Morton Feldman and often described as the sound of Richmond free jazz, anchors the music; Singh and Clark co-wrote the songs “Mean Reds” and “As Strange As It Is.”

Mowder Oyal, whose name is a phonetic Baltimore pronunciation of “motor oil,” is a collective making hardcore punk and free jazz simultaneously. The current lineup features guitarist Adam Holofcener, Konjur Collective percussionist and vocalist Bashi Rose, Mind On Fire bassoonist James Young, and performance artist Sun Lynn Hunter on vocals. Baltimore Magazine has called them “the Most Baltimore Band to Ever Baltimore,” and Bandcamp has placed their music in the lineage of creative and weird jazz emerging from Charm City since Gary Bartz and Carl Grubbs. Frequent collaborator Jamal Moore, a multi-reedist, has worked with the group, and past members include founding vocalist SHAN Wallace and MC Eze Jackson.

When: Friday, August 21, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

Doors: Doors open at 7:00 PM; music begins at 7:30 PM.

Tickets: $15–25, with ticket purchase available through the event page.

Venue: Rhizome DC.

Laura Ann Singh Fracas Quintet lineup: Laura Ann Singh on vocals, Scott Clark on drums, Adam Hopkins on bass, Bob Miller on trumpet, and John Lilley on reeds.

Mowder Oyal lineup: Adam Holofcener on guitar, Bashi Rose on percussion and vocals, James Young on bassoon, and Sun Lynn Hunter on vocals.

Background: Laura Ann Singh’s “Mean Reds” is her debut album and draws on her admiration for Asha Puthli’s contributions to Ornette Coleman’s “Science Fiction,” as well as her own background as a founding member of Miramar and featured vocalist with Tomeka Reid’s Ellington project.

Note: The event is tagged as music and is part of Rhizome DC’s 2026 programming.