The Asylum, a Halloween-based art experience, was produced by Elevator Projects in conjunction with a vinyl listening of Moon Honey’s newest album, Hand-Painted Dream Photographs.  Elevator Projects is a locally-run art collective working to create the possibility of art in unconventional spaces.  Its main goal is to create and involve the community in an exciting way.  Visually, the installation is overwhelming.  Since it is in a large warehouse space, it creates an indecisiveness of where to start.  Unlike the surrounding events, the focus of The Asylum and Elevator Projects remains in an artistic and creative environment.  The separation from the literal was the strongest element of Elevator Projects, establishing itself as an independent experience from the Halloween holiday.  The Asylum, though, focuses on reaching out to your senses, visually and physically.  
Now there are elements of a Halloween-influenced idea for some of the installations at The Asylum, but the most intriguing sculptures are ones that submerge you into the art.  The Anxiety Installation, created by Alexis Stephenson and Stephanie Landry, put me to work as I was forced to walk through without falling down or getting caught.  Visually, it is chaotic: an assortment of loosely hanging string but overwhelming due to its scale.  Also, in order to get to the next room, I had to maneuver my way through all the string.  Once through, you find yourself in a giant room, dimly lit, but complete with pillows and blankets to inspire a sense of comfort.  The room echoes with noise, but it’s soothing.  The invitation to lounge and listen is strong, especially knowing that I have to crawl to get back out to the crowd.
In combination with the art installations, Moon Honey developed an audio and visual installation of their own to promote their newest album, Hand-Painted Dream Photographs.  The thought of overwhelming audio competing with the surrounding interactive performance crossed my mind, but I was proven wrong.  The unnerving, yet wonderfully harmonious vocals of Moon Honey echo throughout the front room, but don’t overwhelm the show.  Moon Honey’s contribution doesn’t end at the auditory experience. The band created a collage video in conjunction with their music.  The video is an amalgamation of imagery that developed a whimsical narrative and brought light to a dimly lit warehouse. 
The most striking element of Moon Honey’s music are the vocals, and the weight it carries as you listen.  The Two Fridas displays the bone-chilling vocals of singer, Jessica Ramsey, though it’s not easy to say that the vocals carry the band. Moon Honey has found the perfect medium of steady and erratic.  It is unexpected and mysterious.  The rhythm is steady and melodic, but it fluctuates between hard and soothing without sounding lost.  Hand-Painted Dream Photographs has been a long-time coming for Moon Honey and it successfully depicts the effort put into the album.          
The Arts Community is waking up to its potential in Baton Rouge.  Elevator Projects and Moon Honey, two power houses in Baton Rouge, have the ability to not only inspire the local community, but get the state of Louisiana out the door.