Thursday, February 18, 2016

Laura Marling, Trades Club Hebden Bridge, 17th February 2016 9.5/10


Artists often spend hours in the studio with talented producers, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for the distance between artist and audience inherent in recorded music. Even live, as performers play larger venues, they see the need to add musicians to their band and resource to their lighting and stage design. Last night, though there were no distractions or barriers, just 200 raptly silent music lovers crammed into a small room with the most talented English folk singer of her generation. When Laura Marling came to this venue last January, she'd just returned from life in California, and was about to release her fifth album, Short Movie. There was much discussion of her plugging in, deploying electric guitar for the first time, and she brought a band. Tickets were were allocated by lottery to fans on her email list.


This gig was rooted in the local community though: after hearing of the devastating floods which hit Hebden Bridge on Boxing Day, Laura contacted The Trades Club and offered to play a benefit concert. Last night, she alluded to a tales she'd been told of the extraordinary reaction to the disaster, including a group of Sikhs from Slough and Hells Angels who travelled to Yorkshire to lend assistance. She talked of the beautiful and all too rare sense of community in Hebden, and perhaps inspired by the presence of her sister, of her father. Laura is often shy on stage, but sensing she was amongst kindred spirits, appeared unusually relaxed here, even chatty. Yet, when Laura plays, she seems to inhabit a different plane, her focus inward rather than on the audience. A very occasional slip served as a reminder of her human fallibility, but this was a beautifully poised, hushed performance of incredible sensitivity.


The 75 minute set, as ever without an encore, started with the intense, extended opening sequence from Once I Was an Eagle, which I consider to be her finest work to date. Short Movie featured relatively little: instead she focused on earlier songs written for sparser forces. However, I Feel Your Love and the haunting Walk Alone were included, being my highlights alongside gorgeous renditions of Once and Sophia. We were also treated to two covers, a sad one by Townes Van Zandt and the more upbeat Do I Ever Cross Your Mind. More intriguing though, was the song Noelle from an as yet unreleased sixth album, played in full in America last autumn, by her request not filmed or recorded. Aside from the emotional directness, a benefit of the minimal presentation was the clear audibility of the words, which are central to her genius. That Laura was turned down for a poetry class in New York should give hope to all those faced with rejection.


I first saw Laura in concert halls, and only in past year have had the privilege of experiencing this exquisite artistry in an intimate space. She's easily able to command large audiences, though it feels more of an inward, personal journey than one which must be shared. Some have found Short Movie more detached than the early albums, but the two shows in Hebden Bridge demonstrate that this is an illusion created by the production. Laura may have gained in self assurance on stage, but her performance is every bit as raw, and the risks taken for expression are not characteristic of a genteel, reserved southern English person. She explained that as a teenager, she'd made up fictional back stories to explain her song lyrics to her father. Deep, painful, personal emotions are given voice in a way that transcends the boundaries of folk. Whereas some artists may feel exposed in a solo acoustic performance, Laura's talent was all the more evident through the lack of embellishment; this was a truly memorable evening.


Set List
  • Take The Night Off
  • I Was An Eagle
  • You Know
  • Breathe
  • Walk Alone
  • Waitin' Around To Die (Townes Van Zandt cover)
  • Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (Dolly Parton cover)
  • Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)
  • Made by Maid
  • The Muse
  • Once
  • Don't Ask Me Why (partial)
  • Sophia
  • What He Wrote
  • I Feel Your Love
  • Noelle (new song)
  • Daisy
  • Rambling Man
  • How Can I

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Beirut, Albert Hall Manchester, 13th February 2016 9/10


There was no hint of the personal crisis that enveloped Zach Condon's life in the void since the release of The Rip Tide: this was a night of celebration and triumph over adversity. He's not known for chatter, and seemed almost embarrassed when the Manchester crowd sang Happy Birthday to him, but it's clear that the band found this music as therapeutically uplifting as the audience. I was slightly apprehensive at the start: Beirut's fifth album No No No, released last September, hasn't gained universal critical acclaim. Pitchfork described at as sounding like 'a collection of exposed scaffoldings', 'more a story of survival than a short at reinvention'. Unlike its predecessor, it didn't make my end of year list either: less than half a hour in length, it feels insubstantial, though I find more evidence of development than others. It was written for a trio, the sound emphasising drums, bass and piano, further paring back the simplified sound first sign posted in The Rip Tide.


Live, though, this was far from a minimalist presentation: Scenic World, from their first album, was announced with brass blaring thrilling from the side balconies of the Albert Hall. This beautiful venue added grandeur to the visuals and sound, and the set list was equally expansive. It mattered little that their latest studio work is slightly underwhelming when they have such a rich back catalogue to draw upon. Indeed, No No No aided the structure: its continuity with the The Rip Tide gave a sense of balance with the earlier work which emphasises instrumentals. Rather like Milky Chance, the two most recent records put rhythm to the fore, encouraging an enthusiastic audience to move around. It was, however, that brass that gained the loudest cheers. Zach plays a flugelhorn, out of a sense of necessity after a hand injury precluded the guitar. He also switched between a Moog synthesiser and ukulele, a more recent addition, but the most thrilling moments came from the virtuoso three part harmony, when he was flanked by Ben Lanz on trombone and Kyle Resnick on trumpet.


By contrast, support act D.D. Dumbo played solo, gradually building up layers and sound as he multi tracked each song. These loops were cleverly constructed, but I missed the flexibility to respond to others that's gained from a band. Just as Beirut's music doesn't sound typical of New Mexico, so Oliver Perry is a long way from Australian pop, drawing on North African blues. This was an intelligent piece of programming. Zach travelled extensively in Eastern Europe listening to Balkan folk, bringing gypsy music, Mexican folk and French Chanson to indie folk rock. If his recent work draws less from world music, and more from American pop, its horizons remain cosmopolitan. Fener's title, for example, refers to a neighbourhood in Turkey where Zach spent time with a recent love.


The four year hiatus between albums seems to have reinvigorated this project's live presence, even if No No No is a transitional work. Zach was hospitalised touring The Rip Tide in Australia, and went through a divorce. Yet now, the band feels more unbuttoned and joyous than the last time I saw them in Manchester in 2011, even relaxed. There's still tight ensemble playing from the long time collaborators, but perhaps surprisingly given that the instrumentals are so unique, the key for my own emotional connection is Zach's voice. He sings with a beautifully organic, gentle tone, floating above the band. This talent is exploited most clearly in The Rip Tide. It's no coincidence that my highlights of this wonderful evening came from this album: particularly Santa Fe and the moving title song, which I associate with a particularly meaningful and happy place. Its cultural roots are deep, even if they're eclectic and geographically distant from their creators.


Set List
Scenic World
Elephant Gun
East Harlem
As Needed
Perth
Santa Fe
August Holland
No No No
Postcards
The Riptide
The Shrew
Prostitute
Fener
After The Curtain
Cocek
Nantes
So Allowed

Encore
Pachelo
Gulag
In the Mausoleum
The Flying Club Cup