Carla Bozulich @ Trunk Space

The music of Carla Bozulich's voice is a knotty, twisted thing, weaving tense words around slinking melodies and discordant clangs of percussion and keys. Bozulich played in alt-country band The Geraldine Fibbers in the '90s and scored a few near-hits with that group, but in recent years, she's devoted herself to her Evangelista project, which will release In Animal Tongue on September 20 and is full of the kind of creeping, haunted sounds she excels at, joined by collaborators from The Dead Science, Tara Barnes, and Dominic Cramp. But with times as economically vicious as they are, Bozulich has decided to start promoting the album by setting out on a stripped-down "duo tour" with multi-instrumentalist John Eichenseer. "In Evangelista, I feel almost supported in anything I do," Bozulich says. "If I fuck up, they are going to catch me . . . We're sort of a gang. We just tear through whatever it is we are doing." Playing as a twosome presents challenges but also an element of intimacy. "It draws the audience into a more singular kind of space," Bozulich says. "You can connect with the audience in a very direct kind of way," Connection is paramount for her, even if it's not necessarily positive. "It's kind of hard to describe it," she says. "Some people almost drag me to them . . . I'm really excited when there are people in the audience who seem to be hating the show. It's like a magnet; I can't help it."