LuckyPDF is a new artist-led project based in Camberwell and Peckham, this websearch South East London. LuckyPDF aims to promote and support new artists and creative talent within the area by finding innovative and effective ways to produce and exhibit work.
Recently taking up residence in the UNITY centre on the busy Peckham High Street, LuckyPDF will play host to a series of exhibitions, events and happenings over coming months, working within the restrictions of this unique space and around the other groups that share it.
The current Exhibition features Molly Smyth’s Sculptures which tackle the difficult subject of fear in relation to the recent attacks in Mumbai. I asked her what initially inspired her;
“I originally wanted to create an overtly violent exhibition which highlights the horror of the terror attacks in Mumbai towards the end of last year. That’s however not what materialized. It became more to do with the fear involved.”
An integral part of the show is a large piece entitled ‘Continuo’ which both propels the art to another level but also acts as an invasive field for the viewers.
“It’s based on the the Basso Continuo rhythm within Baroque music which lies underneath the melody and both propels and holds back the music.”
The exhibition continues tonight and tomorrow night @ UNITY, 39 Peckham High Street.
The Norwegian artist Lise Bjorne Linnert has created a project in response to the tragic, viagra and ongoing situation in the Mexican border town of Juarez, discount which sits on the border of the USA. It is difficult to comprehend, sales but the statistics are chilling – over 560 women have been murdered, hundreds more have disappeared, their whereabouts forever unknown, but it is suspected that they have been kidnapped for trafficking.
Desconocida:Unknown has to date, traveled through 22 countries. The project is very much a participatory affair. Those who come to the exhibition are encouraged to become involved, and embroider two labels; one baring the name of one of the murdered women, and one with the simple word – ‘unknown’. These name tags are added onto a wall which becomes the central medium of the project. Until March 22nd, it will be showing at The Gallery at University for the Creative Arts Epsom. Here, visitors can embroider whilst watching a documentary about the situation, called Threading Voices, also made by the artist.
Frontera 450+, at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston Texas. A show dedicated to the women of Juarez and their situation. This inspired me to start the project. i had moved back to Norway at the time and I wanted to create a project that somehow diminished the distance, the physical distance to the place and the psychological distance to take in information of such difficult issues. I wanted to create a connection, because violence towards women is a global issue, happening in every society, rich or poor, far or near.The situation in Juarez is extremely complex and very difficult to describe using just a few words. But I think it is very important to share that despite the horror that still are happening and the increasing violence towards both men and women due to a war on drugs in the city, the women and the community I have seen and collaborated with is not a victimized community, it is a community of an enormous strength and ability to fight back and with a believe in change. Believe in change through working with the youth, education, support of the families so they can speak for themselves. It is all organized with the smallest means and in an environment of violence and mistrust. The government’s attempts on improvements are described by the activists as cosmetic.”
What inspired you to choose to have participants embroider the name of the murdered women onto the labels?
” The idea of the embroidered nametags came after a long time researching and thinking. I wanted to use a female activity as a way to protest against the violence, I did not want to celebrate the violence. I wanted to establish a connection that would enable us to see the women and hear the stories told, see them as individuals. I also wanted an activity that had connections back to Mexico but yet were global, which embroidery is. We all have a relationship with names, it is the first thing we learn to write and by embroidering the names we would remember that name. By being embroidered, the mass of names each take on an identity again, a dual identity, that of the named and that of the embroiderer.”
Other than the labels, have you been using any other art forms alongside the embroidery, and how to you feel that this compliments?
“The project has inspired me to work using different art forms. After visiting Juarez in 2007, I decided to go back to tell the story of Marisela Ortiz Rivera and the organization Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa. I wanted to share the power and strength the women are fighting with and made the short documentary Threading Voices. When exhibiting the project I also show the video “Missing young women” by the Mexican filmmaker Lourdes Portillo. This film shares the stories about the murders, following the families in their search for their daughters and for justice.
For me it has been very important to show that women are not victims but have strength to fight back. During the openings of exhibitions where Desconocida has been shown, I have done a voice performance, Presence, where I give a tone, and then I give silence. I take away the words, the relation to music and this leaves the viewer and I with the purely the voice, the note and the silence, and I think this brings presence forward. There are “no escapes”
For the opening at the Gallery at the University for Creative Arts, Epsom, I made a sound installation based on my performance idea.”
What has the response been to this project, and where would you like to see this project going (apart from bringing justice to these women, of course).
“The project has grown much larger than I imagined when I started this, it has almost taken on a life of its own. I have decided that as long as people want to be part embroidering and the situation in Juarez remains the same, the project will continue to run its course. I hope more venues would like to show the project and by this engage more communities. It is important for me though that the labels eventually do not end their journey in a drawer in my studio. I am currently researching different ideas of how to bring the labels back out to the communities where they have been created, and doing so through an action/performance in Ciudad Juarez.”
What do you do when even the charity shops turn their noses up at your second hand freebies? Have them stripped for parts just like you would your bike! Tracey Cliffe, find with a background in costume design, information pills knows exactly how to spin fresh dresses out of frocks non-grata. Check out her popping new boutique in Afflecks Place in Manchester.
The ethereal Polly Scattergood performed a short set at Rough Trade East on Saturday evening to a small but attentive crowd. Whether they had wandered in from hearing her sound or were hardened followers was difficult to determine, pharmacy but all were enthralled by what Scattergood had to offer.
Scattergood is an open and candid storyteller with the adorable quirkiness of Kate Bush and the timid vulnerabilty of Bat for Lashes. Part vocal, part soliloquy, Scattergood‘s songs are honest and real. She was a little nervous on Saturday, resplendent in an metallic puffball number with slightly tousled blonde locks. Her vocals wavered, but it’s a bold move presenting your music in a space as stark as a record shop. There’s no production, no flashy lighting, and there are customers wandering aimlessly trying to find their would-be purchases.
In between haunting melodies, Scattergood gave little away apart from song titles. From one track to another, she kept a rapid pace, backed by a three-piece band who spend far too much time looking in a mirror (I’d imagine). The songs are original, though – and her dulcet spoken tones blend smoothly with her powerful voice (she dips like a young Moyet and peaks like a more mature Goldfrapp). She has a fresh indie sound with a scrumptious catchy pop twang, best detected on the balladic Unforgiving Arms. Scattergood is also onto a winner with the short show’s closing track, Nitrogen Pink, born with a whisper and maddening as it reaches its climax.
April sees Polly embark on a comprehensive tour around the UK, with the album Stateside Releases expected to hit the shops this week. With a nod, a huge smile and a timid curtsy, Polly‘s off, safe in the knowledge that she’s served up a teatime treat.
Written by Matt Bramford on Tuesday March 3rd, 2009 6:58 pm
Jean Pierre Braganza S/S 2012 illustration by t.reidy
This show was definitely a bit of a calmer affair from the start, pharmacy which can’t be said for every show at the first day of London Fashion Week where there was some customary elbowing and shoving out of the way. As I went to find my seat I spotted fashion writer legends Hilary Alexander and Colin McDowell having a good chat and a giggle together in the front row with Hilary wearing some very sensible yet awesome leopard-print Converse trainers. It was a big comfort to see all the top fashion editors mostly rocking comfortable-yet-cool footwear in fluoro colours or a flashy pattern, pharm as I’d also opted for a pair of flats and was therefore still able to walk instead of hobble to the last show by the end of day.
Jean Pierre Braganza S/S 2012. All photography by Amelia Gregory
London-born (then brought up in Canada) Jean-Pierre Braganza has been a favourite of mine since my fashion illustrator student days when I modelled for my exceptionally cool japanese stylist classmate and got to wear a pair of extra-long cream leggings and a lot of crazy makeup plus a Kate Bush-esque wig (I was convinced I looked like an exotic bag lady, but my classmate was onto something with the wig as Jean-Pierre did have a few tracks by Kate in the show). Although I obviously was by no means making waves in the fashion world, what stuck in my mind was the interesting use of ruching along the lower leg that created a strong yet feminine look that gathered the extra length into an interesting shape. And, that was also way before leggings became a normal part of an outfit and were overdone to the extent they are now. Jean-Pierre has since stuck to his aesthetic of creating sculpture-like garments, making him best known for constructed tailoring with a bit of an edge.
As the lights dimmed and the usual loud ‘shhhs’ came from somewhere (I always wonder if this is the PR people or just people like me who’d rather not have yelling over the music) I was able to give the press release a quick read. A trip to Cornwall is where the idea for the collection started; blue skies and fluffy cornish clouds (which made me also think about yummy fluffy Cornish ice-cream) contrasted with the sharp lines found in sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and works by Ben Nicholson. As a thumping song from the latest Daft PunkTron movie soundtrack started up I wondered just how Jean-Pierre was going to mix this with inspiration from the Art-Deco area with ‘technological aspiration’ and industrial rock.
Girls stomped out in time to the electro-inspired music with a bit of strong blush on the cheek and hair pulled into a high but loose ponytail, which was then given a sculptural fishtail braid by the Toni & Guy session team. I bumped into of one of the models after the show, Odile from Select (she was being photographed and kept snapping into various model-perfect poses in about 0.3 of a second, incredible to see first-hand) who loved the hair so much she was going to keep it in all day. The first look out was a shift dress with a bit of a flapper silhouette and contrasting cut-out dotted panels that created an amazing effect when the models moved. TouchéMr Braganza, you’ve done it again. I loved the sharp lines around the panels, giving the dress shape (reminding me of Tron-like outfits with lit-up panels from the movie) and a strong but pretty look perfectly complimenting the figure. Very nice to see a dress you can just throw on and immediately look very sculptural and tailored.
The shoes, made by Jean-Pierre for Dune, (so perhaps you’ll see them or a version of them to buy next season) were very high and very unsuitable for the everyday but my goodness they packed a punch. Black detailing was contrasted against pale lemon, bright blood red or even caramel and prints to match the dresses. The ridiculously high peep-toe heels did however come into form on the catwalk, elevating the part-dress part-sculpture girls to a skyscraper level and almost turning their legs into a plinth from which the clothes could be artfully exhibited.
This collection definitely had a lot in it that I loved. Jean-Pierre did sexy cut-outs, which I previously felt puts too much on show and a bit too in-your-face, but in his hands they became petal-soft panels that skimmed curves and held everything in place. They looked almost demure, passing the ‘test’ in where I try to picture myself wearing the dress or shorts or whatever and wonder if I actually would wear it out somewhere nice. It was soft tailoring and sculptural shapes with a feminine yet slightly dark side, which I liked. A lot. There were some gorgeous draped dresses too that reminded me a little of the Spring/Sumer 2010 ‘Dolche Far Niente’ collection by Chalayan but I felt the fabric didn’t have that much to cling to with the slimmer models; some curvier ladies would have worked it better.
A tailored suit or two later, I was admiring the necklaces and gawping over just how high the shoes were when without expecting it, I was completely smitten. It was a dress, but not just any dress. As a lover and illustrator of fashion, I know what colours, shapes and silhouettes will tick my boxes, but I go weak at the knees for a bit of monochrome. I just can’t help it. Blame it on having an architect dad, blame it on the way Comme des Garçons and Chanel use it, blame it on whatever you like because I don’t know why but it always gets me. And this dress got me in a bite-my-lip, ‘damn that’s amazing it’s like wearing a sculpture and can I have it now please’ kind of way. So, I was minding my business scribbling notes and wondering what the grand Hilary Alexander thought of all this when my favourite dress of the show walked out and into, well, yes into my heart. I love it when someone creates with real thought and real skills, and when that thing created is something you can wear, well let’s just say it’s a good thing my budget is no-where near being able to buy stuff like this as I think I’d just stare at it for ages.
The dress was the same as the first ‘modern day flapper girl’ dress on the catwalk, but in white with black lines that gloriously framed the figure. A long black line travelled from the neckline down to the hemline, where it met the other lines that framed the hips and outlined the shoulders. It was sexy in a very understated and fresh way, but was by no means casual, and I loved it. I loved that you’d just be able to slip it on, that it would go with anything, and details like the dropped hem at the back means you’d never have to worry about it was too short when you bent over to pick something up or when pulling some 20s-meets-futuristic shapes on the dance floor.
After the dress, I did see a nice silky jumpsuit or two and some lovely patterns that reminded me of shards of coloured glass as well as some very clever details like slightly off-set arm holes but I couldn’t help thinking about the dress. Before I knew it, Jean-Pierre was giving us a little wave from the start of the catwalk and everyone began to file out of the BFCshow space. The press release mentioned fashion being ‘about capturing emotion in a glance’, and I would insert some overtly poetic line echoing this, but when it comes down to it I loved a dress so much that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Mr Braganza, I think you truly merit a ‘job well done’ on this collection.
Play the video and watch the show.
Written by Alia Gargum on Sunday September 18th, 2011 6:57 pm
Jean Pierre Braganza S/S 2012 illustration by t.reidy
This show was definitely a bit of a calmer affair from the start, which can’t be said for every show at the first day of London Fashion Week where there was some customary elbowing and shoving out of the way. As I went to find my seat I spotted fashion writer legends Hilary Alexander and Colin McDowell having a good chat and a giggle together in the front row with Hilary wearing some very sensible yet awesome leopard-print Converse trainers. It was a big comfort to see all the top fashion editors mostly rocking comfortable-yet-cool footwear in fluoro colours or a flashy pattern, as I’d also opted for a pair of flats and was therefore still able to walk instead of hobble to the last show by the end of day.
Jean Pierre Braganza S/S 2012. All photography by Amelia Gregory
London-born (then brought up in Canada) Jean-Pierre Braganza has been a favourite of mine since my fashion illustrator student days when I modelled for my exceptionally cool japanese stylist classmate and got to wear a pair of extra-long cream leggings and a lot of crazy makeup plus a Kate Bush-esque wig (I was convinced I looked like an exotic bag lady, but my classmate was onto something with the wig as Jean-Pierre did have a few tracks by Kate in the show). Although I obviously was by no means making waves in the fashion world, what stuck in my mind was the interesting use of ruching along the lower leg that created a strong yet feminine look that gathered the extra length into an interesting shape. And, that was also way before leggings became a normal part of an outfit and were overdone to the extent they are now. Jean-Pierre has since stuck to his aesthetic of creating sculpture-like garments, making him best known for constructed tailoring with a bit of an edge.
As the lights dimmed and the usual loud ‘shhhs’ came from somewhere (I always wonder if this is the PR people or just people like me who’d rather not have yelling over the music) I was able to give the press release a quick read. A trip to Cornwall is where the idea for the collection started; blue skies and fluffy cornish clouds (which made me also think about yummy fluffy Cornish ice-cream) contrasted with the sharp lines found in sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and works by Ben Nicholson. As a thumping song from the latest Daft PunkTron movie soundtrack started up I wondered just how Jean-Pierre was going to mix this with inspiration from the Art-Deco area with ‘technological aspiration’ and industrial rock.
Girls stomped out in time to the electro-inspired music with a bit of strong blush on the cheek and hair pulled into a high but loose ponytail, which was then given a sculptural fishtail braid by the Toni & Guy session team. I bumped into of one of the models after the show, Odile from Select (she was being photographed and kept snapping into various model-perfect poses in about 0.3 of a second, incredible to see first-hand) who loved the hair so much she was going to keep it in all day. The first look out was a shift dress with a bit of a flapper silhouette and contrasting cut-out dotted panels that created an amazing effect when the models moved. TouchéMr Braganza, you’ve done it again. I loved the sharp lines around the panels, giving the dress shape (reminding me of Tron-like outfits with lit-up panels from the movie) and a strong but pretty look perfectly complimenting the figure. Very nice to see a dress you can just throw on and immediately look very sculptural and tailored.
The shoes, made by Jean-Pierre for Dune, (so perhaps you’ll see them or a version of them to buy next season) were very high and very unsuitable for the everyday but my goodness they packed a punch. Black detailing was contrasted against pale lemon, bright blood red or even caramel and prints to match the dresses. The ridiculously high peep-toe heels did however come into form on the catwalk, elevating the part-dress part-sculpture girls to a skyscraper level and almost turning their legs into a plinth from which the clothes could be artfully exhibited.
This collection definitely had a lot in it that I loved. Jean-Pierre did sexy cut-outs, which I previously felt puts too much on show and a bit too in-your-face, but in his hands they became petal-soft panels that skimmed curves and held everything in place. They looked almost demure, passing the ‘test’ in where I try to picture myself wearing the dress or shorts or whatever and wonder if I actually would wear it out somewhere nice. It was soft tailoring and sculptural shapes with a feminine yet slightly dark side, which I liked. A lot. There were some gorgeous draped dresses too that reminded me a little of the Spring/Sumer 2010 ‘Dolche Far Niente’ collection by Chalayan but I felt the fabric didn’t have that much to cling to with the slimmer models; some curvier ladies would have worked it better.
A tailored suit or two later, I was admiring the necklaces and gawping over just how high the shoes were when without expecting it, I was completely smitten. It was a dress, but not just any dress. As a lover and illustrator of fashion, I know what colours, shapes and silhouettes will tick my boxes, but I go weak at the knees for a bit of monochrome. I just can’t help it. Blame it on having an architect dad, blame it on the way Comme des Garçons and Chanel use it, blame it on whatever you like because I don’t know why but it always gets me. And this dress got me in a bite-my-lip, ‘damn that’s amazing it’s like wearing a sculpture and can I have it now please’ kind of way. So, I was minding my business scribbling notes and wondering what the grand Hilary Alexander thought of all this when my favourite dress of the show walked out and into, well, yes into my heart. I love it when someone creates with real thought and real skills, and when that thing created is something you can wear, well let’s just say it’s a good thing my budget is no-where near being able to buy stuff like this as I think I’d just stare at it for ages.
The dress was the same as the first ‘modern day flapper girl’ dress on the catwalk, but in white with black lines that gloriously framed the figure. A long black line travelled from the neckline down to the hemline, where it met the other lines that framed the hips and outlined the shoulders. It was sexy in a very understated and fresh way, but was by no means casual, and I loved it. I loved that you’d just be able to slip it on, that it would go with anything, and details like the dropped hem at the back means you’d never have to worry about it was too short when you bent over to pick something up or when pulling some 20s-meets-futuristic shapes on the dance floor.
After the dress, I did see a nice silky jumpsuit or two and some lovely patterns that reminded me of shards of coloured glass as well as some very clever details like slightly off-set arm holes but I couldn’t help thinking about the dress. Before I knew it, Jean-Pierre was giving us a little wave from the start of the catwalk and everyone began to file out of the BFCshow space. The press release mentioned fashion being ‘about capturing emotion in a glance’, and I would insert some overtly poetic line echoing this, but when it comes down to it I loved a dress so much that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Mr Braganza, I think you truly merit a ‘job well done’ on this collection.
Play the video and watch the show.
Written by Alia Gargum on Sunday September 18th, 2011 6:57 pm
Can it really be a week since the Olympics ended? Here’s my final blog post inspired by the visual drama of the ceremonies that opened and closed London 2012.
I watched the Opening Ceremony from a small cottage in Wales, where we marvelled at Danny Boyle‘s very British spectacle and wondered what on earth other nations would think about the pastoral scenes, the ironic exploding industrial landscape, the skydiving Queen, the swing dancing NHS nurses, the children’s choirs, the awesome Dizzee Rascal, the brilliant volunteer disco dancers and, erm, Emeli Sandé (can anyone explain the fuss?) It was a fantastically oddball celebration of real everyday Britain, a two fingers up at the hugely expensive perfection of the Beijing Olympics.
London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony Industrial Revolution by Helen Beeston.
After two weeks of mind boggling physical feats it was a shame that the Closing Ceremony did not wow in quite the same way – instead it resembled a badly put together festival, including as it did mainstream bores such as Elbow, Muse, Kaiser Cheifs and Liam Gallagher (singing out of tune!) two appearances too many from the apparent reigning queen of British pop Emeli Sandé, Jessie J in a series of crystal encrusted flesh bodysuits and no shows from the legendarily (and shy) Kate Bush and David Bowie. Don’t even get me started on the truck bed catwalks – as one commentator pointed out, clothes horses suddenly look very untalented set against the athletic prowess of Olympic medalists. And Victoria Beckham mentioned in the same breath as Burberry and Alexander McQueen? The price paid for a reunited Spice Girls, perhaps? Mind you, call it a guilty pleasure but that was one performance I did enjoy.
Olympics Closing Ceremony Newspaper Cars by Olivia Cook.
London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony The Spice Girls by Helen Beeston.
And so now onto the Paralympics. Last night I watched the brilliant BBC drama The Best of Men, which follows it’s creation in the 1940s at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where the remarkable refugee Dr. Guttmann took a radical new approach to the rehabilitation of soldiers with spine injuries. It’s still available to view for a few more days and I highly recommend you do catch it before the Paralympics start. I for one am really looking forward to the ‘Lympics round two.
Don’t forget to check in with our previous illustrated Olympics blog posts here and here. And find out more about the true cost of the Games here, outlined in a series of thought provoking illustrated blogposts by designer and theoretician Jody Boehnert.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday August 20th, 2012 5:08 pm
Du Goudron et des Plumes Ellie Sutton Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, medications crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, generic ripping out the innards, transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m not really sure what you call them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shade the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells, the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion. The platform tilted as the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests) as they swung repeatedly from side to side, the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was swinging wildly through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, visit this site crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, viagra 40mg ripping out the innards, price transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m not really sure what you call them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shade the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells, the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion. The platform tilted as the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests) as they swung repeatedly from side to side, the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was swinging wildly through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, medicine crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, nurse ripping out the innards, transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m not really sure what you call them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shade the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells, the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion. The platform tilted as the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests) as they swung repeatedly from side to side, the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was swinging wildly through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, look crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, order ripping out the innards, transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m-not-really-sure-what-you-call-them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shadow the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion, and as the platform tilted the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other, pushing and pulling. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth, and how we can either act together to survive or fail apart. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely as they swung repeatedly from side to side (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests), the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was cascading through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
This performance was typical of the way that traditional circus skills have been co-opted by mavericks such as Mathurin Bolze to create something much more abstract and intriguing. A standing ovation flooded through the packed theatre as the lights came up on the opening night of Du Goudron et des Plumes.
Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, here crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, ripping out the innards, transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m-not-really-sure-what-you-call-them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shadow the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion, and as the platform tilted the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other, pushing and pulling. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth, and how we can either act together to survive or fail apart. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely as they swung repeatedly from side to side (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests), the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was cascading through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
This performance was typical of the way that traditional circus skills have been co-opted by mavericks such as Mathurin Bolze to create something much more abstract and intriguing. A standing ovation flooded through the packed theatre as the lights came up on the opening night of Du Goudron et des Plumes.
Du Goudron et des Plumes by Compagnie MPTA with Mathurin Bolze started with a swinging platform lowered slowly over the heads of the performers, story crushing them into the floor. They emerged from beneath, cure ripping out the innards, page transforming the planks into a clanking and clattering playground as the dancers/acrobats/I’m-not-really-sure-what-you-call-them swung adeptly, building and destroying, meeting and parting. Rotating vignettes from everyday life met with random acts of acrobatic grace, often finely tuned for comedic effect – the performers scaling planks to sit, gnome like, at the top, or hanging upside down to mirror each other.
The platform rose, swaying, as paper sheets were unleashed to shadow the manic silhouettes of the characters behind until, in a flurry of motion, the paper was ripped apart. From minimalist jazz to crashing bells the soundtrack was finely tuned to the minutest motion, and as the platform tilted the occupants scrabbled to maintain control, clinging to each other, pushing and pulling. My later reading of the notes tells me this was a metaphor for our unstable future on this earth, and how we can either act together to survive or fail apart. The show ended with them mired in the middle as if aboard a desperate life raft.
I’d like to say that I drifted off rather frequently during this show because I’m really pre-occupied with the launch of my new book this Friday, but the fact is I probably would have done anyway… for me, that’s the trouble with theatrical shows that lack a strong narrative. At times the rhythm and flow of the five fluid acrobats had me gripped, but then I would find I’d gone somewhere else entirely as they swung repeatedly from side to side (shit, I don’t have enough drink for 300 guests), the motion acting as a hypnotist’s pendulum to send me off… and when I snapped to the scene had completely changed…a character was half naked smoking a pipe at the end of a plank, the lone girl was cascading through the air astride a rope swing, a man was swinging wildly from the oversized lamp. Director Mathurin Bolze calls this effect “mesmerising patterns.”
This performance was typical of the way that traditional circus skills have been co-opted by mavericks such as Mathurin Bolze to create something much more abstract and intriguing. He certainly seems to be a popular man: the performers took multiple bows and a standing ovation flooded through the packed theatre as the lights came up on the opening night of Du Goudron et des Plumes.
Rider to the sea starts. With slow, approved sensuous notes, find running then halting. We wait. This is like some sort of Spanish guitar tease; the heroin with eyes masked looks at the man playing the guitar on the balcony of a castle. She jumps higher, find her cape flowing out behind her. They see each other and the notes build up to a feverish level. Then stop. My breath is involuntarily left held.
Anna Calvi’s voice is pushed, because she pushes it. She said in an interview with BBC 6 Music recently, that her vocal performances are about commitment; “baring the soul when you sing, not be scared, just show emotion. it’s important that, I think.” And when compared to Florence and The Machine, she says they are similar in that: “When we go for it, we really go for it.” She does.
Anna credits a wide range of musical influences from Roy Orbison and Elvis to twentieth century music, which she says comes out in her guitar playing. Sometimes she sounds like she should be singing the intro music to a James Bond movie, other times she is a Kate Bush atop a cliff, and then you may get a hint of Adam and The Ants – tribal, wigs and theatre. She certainly has her own sound, and as she says, really unleashes on that mic. You can feel her whole body behind those deep, propelling notes. Visually, her red lips, sculpted cheekbones and feline eyes add to the womanly, lustful passion of the adventure.
I have to admit that the first listen I had, I was not instantly in love with her. However, I was hosting a knit club at my house at the time. And now I realise, for a first listen, Anna is wrong when (perhaps…) extra strong girly vibes are circulating. She is a powerful woman, with no messing or moaning. She is vibrant and direct, not fluffy kitten cute. She has said herself, she is in the business because she loves it. For her, it is not about being ‘careerist’. Maybe this has made her less fearful and safe. She is riding on her own expectations, of which she is willing to push. Thus, I listened to the album a few days later when the moon was full and I was feeling a bit more lioness like, and blimey. It was on all morning and beyond. Together with a coffee, I was screaming from my basement flat. Such a shame I have no rooftops.
Listen to this and you will see exactly what I mean:
So track highlights; No More Words’ guitar notes are so sweet, with Anna’s voice ‘ahhhing’ over the top and singing so close to the microphone. Desire is as you would hope, with the title it holds; “The sound of love is beating like a fevered heart… It’s heavenly, heavenly, desirrrre.” Yes to desires, passions and DRUMS! In contrast First We Kiss, is the lingering and submission of desire and the story from the kiss to beyond. Whilst Blackout is a scaling, swinging, red hot infused, deep breathing track. Then… we have Morning Light, all strung out notes, infused by the morning’s spreading sun. New starts and consequences. A fabulous, long, slightly hazy, almost mumbly track, climaxing with symbols and the full sunrise. It reflects perfectly the early morning’s sensation. Feeling like you have so much time before the sun rises, but it’s always over quicker than you anticipate. You are not invincible, and the day is beginning.
My iTunes says she’s ‘Latin’, but she seems to cover more genres. She has the passions of the Latino, but Anna is also rockier, showier and yet almost primmer than Latin. It’s liberating music, but also feels quite private. A bit like being within the bubble of thoughts consuming a girl in the throes of deep lust, she is singing literally from within. With her Italian blood running through her veins, Anna says this album is about: “intimacy, passion and loneliness.” Strong and all encompassing emotions, that supports both her commitment to performance and the deep, trusted position we are in, as listeners. And you really do believe her feelings as you listen to her.
You know at the end of some of those 80s films, when the couple that have spent the whole movie arguing and bouncing around in bed, get in the car and drive off around a cliff in a sports car that looks like an insect? She would be an AMAZING soundtrack to a modern version of that.
Then there have been the two singles which steadfastly refuse to tread the usual girl band solo rubbish. Beat of My Drum features Nicola jumping around to a cracked up bass line courtesy of Diplo and Dimitri Tikovoi. With lyrics clearly inspired by her first ugly duckling days as the youngest member of Girls Aloud, seek it is resolutely individual.
Then came the genius pop tune that is Lucky Day, website like this produced by Canadian electropop group Dragonette and shot by indie director Stephen Agnes in New York with Nicola wearing just one outfit, information pills a ridiculously short floral tent dress.
Now for the album: Yo Yo gleans its big retro sound from many an 80s pop anthem. Cinderella’s Eyes is a more obviously pop record, though it benefits from some particularly high episodes where Nicola sounds the spit of Kate Bush (no really). Porcelain Heart is another big and potentially commercial dance number.
Then comes her collaboration with the magnificent Metronomy; I benefits from a typically off kilter arrangement which begins with ethnic sounding plinky plonks that slowly creep to life. The track never shies away from Nicola’s occasionally shrill falsetto, instead toying languidly with it before fading out.
Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime, originally by The Korgis, is the only cover on an album that is otherwise entirely penned by Nicola herself. She manages to give the 80s track a suitably modern electro twist and it is on this that her voice sounds at its best. Say it Out Loud is another floor filler with a driving beat that builds to a nice crescendo before dying away in a Euro stylee. Gladiator sticks with the same sort of dance vibe, but with the addition of some quite bonkers lyrics.
The Metronomy glitches are back with Fish Out Of Water, another song that harks back to Nicola’s less confident days. Take a Bite is a truly great tune, a real fighting anthem: check these lyrics. ‘Get your teeth round this open wide, Eyes bigger than your belly tonight, If you think you’re hard take a bite‘ and ‘Just because you’re twice the size of me, Doesn’t mean I’m scared of World War III, Sit back and grab a cup of tea, I’m gonna kick your arse now in 3D‘ As she states, ‘Everybody’s got a limit alright‘ and it looks like this deceptively frail looking woman reached hers some time ago.
The album ends on a the most downbeat song. Sticks & Stones covers Nicola’s hardest times as the most derided member of the band. ‘How funny that I was too young for so many things, Yet you thought I’d cope with being told I’m ugly.’
I’ve always loved clever pop music and Cinderella’s Eyes most definitely fits the bill – it’s a great slice of off kilter ballsiness from the most singular and talented member of Girls Aloud.
It has been quite something to watch Nicola Roberts‘ transformation since Girls Aloud won Popstars: The Rivals nearly ten years ago. Looking back at the young girl who hid behind a thick smothering of fake tan, who could have predicted this outcome? Certainly not I… life really is full of surprises.
Cinderella’s Eyes is out now on Polydor. You can hear the whole album streamed here. But before you go, check out this brilliant b-side for Beat of My Drum.
Disco, Blisters & A Comedown.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Saturday October 15th, 2011 12:20 am
Joe Worricker was turned away from X Factor but that didn’t prevent him from being snapped up by the coolest of labels Rough Trade. He’s just released single Finger Waggers so I thought I’d catch up with him on twitter and find out what gets Joe ticking…
You’ve just released Finger Waggers. What’s this song about and why the name?
I wrote Finger Waggers when my hair was so shockingly large people used to pull at it in clubs and take the piss. It’s about the importance of self-love and not letting people tell you how to be. Each of us are only here for a short time and we should be whatever we want to be
What’s the idea behind the video?
It’s set at a tupperware party with posh ladies who are the finger-waggers. The director Lily Smith did a fantastic job, viagra order she has made it look amazing.
Your sound is a pretty unique combination of pop, indie and soul. How would you describe it and why?
The songs are Beatles, The Marvelettes, Debussy and Kate Bush mixed and the vocal is a weird soul voice I suppose.
You’ve already been hailed as a new soul sensation – how does this feel? What do your mates mates say to you on the subject?
It’s an amazing feeling when someone appreciates your work. What’s important is how you feel about it. For my first album I’m proud and think I’ve set good starting ground for future things to come. My friends are really supportive and always come to my gigs.
When did you start singing, and how did you end up signed to Rough Trade?
I started singing to Disney songs when I was a baby and haven’t stopped since. When I was gigging round London some music peeps got talking, Rough Trade heard about me and came to watch me in Soho. They then invited me in and offered me a deal
What was it like growing up in Essex – did you live the life of a typical “essex boy”? PS what do you think of the new real life soap The Only Way is Essex – is this the Essex you knew? is it an apt representation of life in Essex?! or not at all….
I probably lived the Essex girl life more. Went out every weekend to binge drink underage with my girl mates and wore and still wear excessive amounts of fake tan. Although I get St Tropez now which is the best in the business, where then it was very cheap rub on tan; I’ve matured. I haven’t seen the show yet, but everyone has been banging on about it. Yes, there are people like the people you see on the programme for sure
X Factor: what’s your opinion? Did you ever enter any talent competitions as a teenager?
Talent competitions can be amazing platforms for people. Jennifer Hudson being the best example, who is totally sensational and may have never been discovered otherwise. I entered the X-Factor when I was 18. I didn’t get through though, I think they were scared of my voice.
Where are you living at the moment and why?
Fitzrovia. I only live in areas where I can walk to Soho in 5 minutes or less.
You’re a proactive twitter user – what do you use twitter for?
It’s good for letting people who are interested in your music know about gigs, singles and the generally rubbish you are getting up to. Perfect for potential stalkers.
When can people catch you live? What can they expect from a Joe Worricker live performance and why should they come to see you?
My London headline show at XOYO on 16th November in Old Street. They should come see me coz I’m better live and i’m extra gifted at talking rubbish between the songs.
What makes the best kind of party?
Vodka, hilarious music, getting naked in the early hours…
When can we expect a debut album, and have you got a name for it yet? go on… give us a bit of a clue…
It is released in the new year. It is the title of the 1st song I wrote for the album. The song is about a moment of profound beauty and clarity when every fear and worry about life fell out of my head and I could see the world clearly.
Catch Joe soon before he goes massive: X Factor be damned, this Debussy loving Essex boy is going places. Read our gig listing here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday November 2nd, 2010 1:40 pm
If Amelia’s Magazine had a wish list of character traits that would perfectly encapsulate its personality then you would struggle to surpass those of Jamie McDermott, viagra sale one of the magazines favourite performers. The founding member, page and centre piece of The Irrepressibles, could have tailored his CV to fit the remit of Amelia’s Magazine. The Irrepressibles’ creator, composer, arranger and avant garde curator wears his heart firmly on his sleeve and is intensely protective and proud of his conception, and rightly so. Their mix of love and lust, longing and tragedy is often borne out as cathartic confessionals. Jamie’s vision and passion, which he so effectively channels through his ‘performance orchestra’, were captured brilliantly, earlier this year on his bands debut album Mirror Mirror.
The Irrepressibles, Jamie’s very personal labour of love, have been a regular source of fascination for the Amelia’s Magazine, having been previously featured both in print and on-line. Their very original and ground breaking approach continues to push the boundaries of live popular music, as their choice of venue can also testify to. Having performed in places as diverse as Latitude Festival and the V&A, and from the Hackney Empire to a recent guest appearance at London Fashion Week you are unlikely to experience the norm.
It was shortly after their recent LFW performance that I managed to hook up with Jamie. With a little trepidation, a youthful excitement and a great deal of pleasure I tracked him down and interrupted his very busy schedule. I was not only hoping to get a little insight into the world of The Irrepressibles but also an idea of who Jamie really is. I wasn’t to be disappointed. Jamie talked vividly and most candidly about how it all began, where his influences have come from and above all what an incredible journey it has all been. (Just don’t mention the Pope, you’ll only be greeted with silence!) Here is Jamie McDermott from The Irrepressibles.
Way back before the formation of The Irrepressibles was there a pivotal moment in your life where you decided that you would be a performer, a musician, a composer? What lead to your epiphany?
I had fallen in love with my best friend – another boy – and we were inseparable. He had a band and I wanted to be around him so I began to sing in it. But one night I explained how I felt. We fell apart as friends. I felt alone, I knew that I was gay and that people didn’t feel it was right… I wanted to throw myself of the cliffs of the seaside town where I lived. But when stood there in the air I heard music. My own. Instead of jumping I decided to explain to the world through music the beauty of being in love with another man in a way that everyone would understand.
How did you go about creating The Irrepressibles, did you have a defined vision of how you were going to express yourself? Has it changed at all? Do you see it as an evolutionary process and if so what are the triggers to change? How did you all meet?
I had been writing music focused on what I wanted to say and the emotions I needed to express. I wanted to surround this emotion with a world, a soundscape that could explain the depth of feeling, so I began to work with orchestral instrumentation as they could offer the abrasive and the sublime the surreal and the polyphonic. Initially it was me and four others on a course in popular music studies. I had discovered the library and as a working class boy from North Yorkshire I was starving for the words and pictures. I read about Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren, Andy Warhol and the KLF’s work with pop music subculture, about the political force of music in the words of Atalli and Eisler and fell in love with the iconic imagery of film makers Fasbinder and Kenneth Anger. I also read about the work with spectacle by Dali, Meredith Monk with The House and Laurie Anderson amongst others. I had been seeing visions since I was a child that accompanied the music in my head, I wanted to create something and these people gave me the confidence to make my visions real. I was irritated by the manufactured pop music and it’s lack of real emotion but also the boring visual aesthetics of indie music at the time and I wanted to create something fresh and reactionary.
What do you see as your main influences and inspirations, both musically and personally?
The sounds of the world around me. I am most influenced by non musical elements. The world itself is musical everything from the sounds of laughter to the hum of the bus I’m sitting on now are singing. The movement of people and machines all have a complexity of nature a kind of polyphony in their interaction. My music has this interaction. As do my spectacles where movement meets light installation meets interactive set meets music meets movement to create one being of emotion – one machine of emotion.
Of your contemporaries, are there any that you are listening to, any that you are finding particularly creative or challenging?
Yes Simon Bookish is incredible, I adore Peaches, Broadcast are consistently inspirational, The Knife are wonderful…
Many people have tried to capture the essence of your performance and creation without necessarily being able to convey the whole experience adequately on paper. How would you describe your music and performance?
It is an organic machine of emotion.
The drama and theatre within your music and shows is clearly crucial and only serves to heighten the experience for the audience. At what point in the creative process does this become a consideration? Do you have a structured way of writing a song? How does it all work for you as the writer/composer?
I write automatically i.e. from my subconscious. I let my decisions be as spontanious and uncontrived as possible in order to explain fully the depths of my subconsious. I then see visions of how I can present the music in a space working with the parameters of lighting and set installation, movement and feeling.
There have been comparisons drawn with your style of music to Antony Hegarty and David Bowie among others. For me there is are also the theatrics of early Marc Almond solo work such as Vermin In Ermine as well as a sympathy and empathy with a lot of New Romantic sensibilities. Where do you see your musical style?
I am very much influenced by what I would call the leneage of gay artists. I also believe that gay artists create a slightly different aesthetic of sound and visual generally – a very varied one when you consider Grizzly Bear, Owen Pallet, Patrick Wolf and Me at this time – but there is an aesthetic. I am also massively influenced by female artists like Meredith Monk and Kate Bush of course. I believe like Kate I see music and performance as innately another world a fantasy world were emotions can be better expressed – a dream.
Many of your songs, such as In This Shirt, are very personal and clearly connect with your audience. Do you find that laying yourself bare, so to speak, gives a song more truth, depth and sincerity and as such it is more credible and infinitely more appreciated? Is that what you strive for?
I only ever write honestly and cathartically – I am completely open but I was bullied throughout all of my schooling you get to the point were you feel pretty much naked to everyone anyway. Sometimes you wont believe it as the songs sound melodramatic but when you consider that My Friend Jo was in fact about looking in the face suicide at a time of hysterical emotions it does make sense. Why does everything have to be simple in music? Life of course is complex and polyphonic and so I believe music should be too. Sometimes my music is more simplistic because the emotion is, other times it’s like a mad person you can’t understand. We are all mentally ill in some way.
Both the 2009 release, From The Circus To The Sea, and this years album, Mirror Mirror, have been very well received garnering much critical acclaim. Do you now feel the swell of expectation and public consciousness rising as your audience grows ever bigger?
It’s been nothing short of incredible. I spend most of my time talking to fans all over the world. I always feel awful when people complement my work and I don’t get back to them. I have become a whore to Facebook and Myspace… ha ha!
You have played some decidedly different venues this year from The Roundhouse and The V&A to three shows at Latitude. How were they for you and what can everyone expect from the forthcoming shows that are due to start at the end of this month?
At the Roundhouse the orchestra performed 10 meters in the air on moving seats, at Latitude we opened the festival with ‘Gathering Songs’ which consisted of several pieces for different parts of the orchestra that were performed desperately all over the forest over 2 and a half hours which accumulated in a spectacle on the water, the year after I created the Light and Shadow spectacle with lighting installation. The V&A commissioned me in 2009 to create a spectacle for their Baroque Exhibition then came the chance to create my Human Music Box installation which was then taken to Latitude the same year. This year I created the Mirror Mirror Spectacle which began with a commission for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. We are touring this internationally now and present it again in London at the Scala tomorrow.
The Irrepressibles are touring into 2011, are there plans after that to record any new material or are you working on other projects, if so what are they?
I am working on my new AIR spectacle which will be premiered in Modena Italy next week. I am then going to begin work on music for a Manga Opera with Hotel Pro Forma who famously created the opera with The Knife. The next album is now half written and we should begin recording this soon.
Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate you taking the time. Best of luck for your forthcoming shows.
Written by Andrew Lockwood on Friday October 8th, 2010 2:34 pm
This could never be an ordinary show. Not like some 20 minute set at the Windmill, oh no. This was Kate Bush, and Kate Bush never does ordinary. After a completely unexpected announcement, having not performed live for 35 years (aside from charity duets with the likes of David Gilmour and Rowan Atkinson)? No, this was going to be spectacular.
The thought of ever seeing Kate Bush on stage again had seemed inconceivable, so it was no surprise that, come the fateful day when no doubt tens of thousands of index fingers hovered expectantly over the refresh button, awaiting the inevitable crash of over-subscribed ticketing websites, her mammoth 22 date stint at the Eventim Apollo sold out in minutes (I was actually very lucky, and got my ticket at the second attempt). And what were we to expect from the shows themselves? There was the promotional photo, of Bush in a lifejacket adrift in the sea, and the enigmatic title, Before The Dawn. There were rumours, as there always are, of what might be performed, but nothing else. We would have to wait and see.
Why the enduring appeal of Kate Bush? I guess it’s partly because her music is so, well, different. When she first appeared on the scene in the late 70s, popular music pretty much fell into two distinct camps, New Wave and Disco, and Kate Bush was most definitely neither. Also, there’s her continuing influence, both musically and artistically, taking firm control of her career from an early stage in a very male dominated music industry.
So here we are, on a pleasant late summer’s evening in West London. The Eventim Apollo (better known as the old Hammersmith Odeon) is a fitting venue – the stage where David Bowie famously “retired”Ziggy Stardust now marking the return of Kate Bush (who also closed her only previous tour here) as a live performer. With showtime starting promptly at 7.45, there was already a sizeable queue snaking its way indoors when I got there, making its way past a forlorn figure with her homemade placard saying “it’s my birthday today, I need two tickets.” The recently renovated foyer was buzzing with an excitement I don’t ever recall seeing before a gig, with people laying siege to the merch stall. As I’d gathered from assorted posts on Twitter over the last few days, there would be plenty of scope for celebrity spotting, and sure enough I saw film director Danny Boyle at the bar, the comedy actor Stephen Mangan and someone who may or may not have been Miranda Richardson (short of actually going up and asking her, I wasn’t entirely sure). It had been so long since I’d last been to the Apollo, I’d forgotten how small the auditorium is (certainly for a venue of its ilk), so even though I was right at the back of the stalls in the “standing room only” section, I still had a really good view of the stage.
By now, almost two weeks into the run of Before The Dawn, the set list was pretty well known (as it remained unchanged for each performance), so although there wasn’t the element of complete surprise about what was (or wasn’t) played that there was on the opening night, it didn’t really matter because you were seeing Kate Bush.
The lights dimmed and with the spoken word introduction to Lily echoing over the PA, a barefoot Kate Bush led a procession of her backing singers out on to the stage, to an immediate standing ovation. It’s Kate Bush! On stage, in front of you! With her band spread out behind her, filling the stage on different sized pedestals (including a serious amount of percussion), she moved on to that perennial classic, Hounds Of Love, with the backdrop to the stage transforming into a forest at night. This first part of the show was the “hits” section, and (as we soon found out) the most conventionally gig-like part of the night. Anyone expecting any of her older songs would have been disappointed as Bush stuck to post mid-80s material – Joanni from 2005’s Aerial was followed by Top Of The City from 1993’s The Red Shoes, featuring a performance proving that any cobwebs on those vocal chords had well and truly been dusted off. A fair bit of interpretive arm waving had been going on from a girl just along the row from me during Top Of The City, and I think she must have gone into overdrive at the unmistakable opening of (an extended) Running Up That Hill. The opening part of the show finished with King Of The Mountain, another song from Aerial, before a screen dropped in front of the stage, with a projection of storm clouds thrown upon it, and the auditorium was showered with what at first seemed like confetti, but which upon closer inspection turned out to be intricate slivers of paper bearing lines from Tennyson’s The Coming Of Arthur, heralding the onset of The Ninth Wave.
The Ninth Wave (based around the idea of a woman adrift at sea at night) is the conceptual second side of the Hounds Of Love album and, along with An Endless Sky Of Honey (from Aerial), forms the centrepiece of the Before The Dawn show. This is where we transcend the regular notion of a concert and move into something which is more theatrical, yet not quite theatre – with costumed dancers, impressive props, filmed inserts and a “helicopter” buzzing the audience, it’s more of a multi-media experience. Indeed, as Kate Bush notes in the beautifully created programme, she enlisted the help of renowned theatre director Adrian Noble and author David Mitchell (who provided some of the dialogue) to help realise the production. It also explains, on the one hand, why Before The Dawn hasn’t toured other venues (the logistics of continually dismantling and then reassembling the set) and also why the Apollo was chosen over other venues (intimacy versus an aircraft hangar sized auditorium).
Starting with a short film depicting an amateur astronomer (played by Kevin Doyle) who picks up a ship’s distress call, we then move to another filmed piece (shot in a water tank at Pinewood Studios, resulting in a case of mild hypothermia!) with Bush in a life jacket lost at sea, singing And Dream Of Sheep. The stage is transformed with what resembles the remains of a sunken ship’s hull, with billowing fabric mimicking the rolling waves, dancers in skeletal fish heads attempting to claim the heroine for the Deep, and later on a giant buoy appears to offer hope for salvation. Before Watching You Without Me a surreal, Lynchian living room set is wheeled on stage for a brief sketch featuring the heroine’s husband and son, with Bush making the kind of appearance from nowhere that could easily grace a Japanese horror film!
After a 20 minute interval, we were on to the Sky Of Honey segment, with the band repositioned stage right and, instead of a cold forbidding atmosphere, it’s all warm hues and a backdrop of beautifully rendered projections of birds. On Aerial, this section has less of a narrative arc, compared to the Ninth Wave – Bush explains that Sky Of Honey was originally intended to be about the relationship between light and birdsong, and about “us, observing nature.” On stage, it’s fleshed out with a fuller role given to the character of the painter, now played by Bush’s teenage son, Bertie (who even gets his own song, a new composition called Tawny Moon). Bush spends most of this set at the piano, and, for me, there are also two actual WTF moments that crop up too (more of which later).
As the Prelude plays, the scene is set with one of the two protagonists of the piece, a child size wooden artist’s dummy (operated in an unusual, unique but very effective way by an ever present puppeteer) being locked out of a giant set of doors. The dummy then generally wanders around, interacting with the band and the other performers, and generally getting in the way of the other main protagonist, the painter. Musically, the pace picks up as we go along, from gentle piano led pieces to a spot of Spanish guitar at the end of Sunset which I noticed persuaded some of the seated audience in front of me to have a bit of a boogie. The cool groove of Somewhere In Between carries on into Nocturn before the surreal finale that accompanies Aerial – as the band members don bird masks, the artist’s dummy returns on stage and it becomes alive, and starts hitting the puppeteer before running off! Didn’t see that one coming… Even more remarkable, as the stage goes black at the end of Aerial, the lights then briefly come back on and you see Kate Bush suspended in the air, her outstretched arms are wings, and the stage goes black again. Kate Bush has turned into a bird!
Well, how do you follow that? With an encore, of course. Bush returned to the piano for a solo rendition of Among Angels, the final track on her most recent album, 50 Words For Snow, before the band came back out for a run through that other Hounds Of Love hit, Cloudbusting. I’d lost count of standing ovations by this stage, as a smiling waving Kate Bush thanked everyone and wished us all a safe trip home. It was a strange sensation, coming back out into the foyer (past Danny Boyle getting his photo taken with random audience members), after experiencing all that, having actually seen Kate Bush on stage. I hadn’t noticed floods of joyous tears (as reports from earlier shows suggested there had been) from people in the crowd, but I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Well, that was that. Kate Bush on stage again after 35 years. Something we never thought we’d see happen, but will we see it again? Who knows, but if nothing else, tonight (and indeed this whole 22 date epic) has shown that Kate Bush can still surprise us.
Written by Richard Pearmain on Tuesday September 30th, 2014 11:46 am
Mary Katrantzou A/W 2011. Photography by Amelia Gregory
Illustration by Laura Godfrey, ed LG Illustration
I know that folk music isn’t all organic, this web whole foods, and love – or indeed deep lust – buried in a haystack. Happy all day, before campfires and passions at night. No, folk musicians don’t spend their days wearing slightly grubby lumberjacks or floaty, ethereal frocks. See evidence: Grizzly Bear aren’t happy all the time and Bon Iver is a delightfully melancholy chap. And then just listen to Nick Drake and young Laura Marling. To be honest I’m not really sure where I got the skippy, clappy, dancing in the hazy afternoon sunshine vision from. Perhaps it’s because folk artists tend to sing about the earth, nature and love in one breath. There is no chat of ‘honeys’ or ‘bling’. Gah, And of course, folkers may be generally creative and appreciative of the natural world, but it in no means leaves them exempt of sadness, hurt and darkness. I wonder, does it in actual fact make them more open and adept to describing their feelings than the blingers? Regardless, folk is often as rhythmic and warming as the grandfather clock that my 40s’ Grandpa chopped the bottom of, to fit in his house. Tick, tock. Folk is cosy and true, which is why it feels so pure – which is why it makes me want to reside in a yurt.
Let me introduce you to Emily Jane White. The PR sheet in-front of me says that her album is: ‘a collection of ten opulent, uncluttered and captivating ballads.’ A friend asked me other day, “If you had to only use one adjective for the rest of your life, what would it be?” If I was a news writer, I would say: “Peh, what even are adjectives?”. As a PR I would pass out. Whilst as a writer of my own devices, I would say – ‘blissful’. Then I could put ‘anti’ in-front of a word perhaps. Awkward. Anyway, off on a tangent again: Emily Jane White’s music is BLISSFUL.
See:
She is melancholy. But in the way that makes you feel perhaps strangely, very contented. Maybe it is because in a sense Emily is making peace with herself and her thoughts through the act of writing her music. She said that she found writing her latest album, Ode To Sentience, out now on Talitres Records, cathartic to write: “They speak to the emotional simplicity and complexity of human relationship. I chose to call the record Ode To Sentience because it is the capacity to feel that creates a share human experience of music. We all share the potency of music by having the capacity to feel, and I found the simplicity of this fact very beautiful.”
Her album is about leaving home, her’s was California – I Lay To Rest (California) – the drawn out strings longing to leave. The sharper notes; the sadness of leaving it. Clipped Wings is ghostly and full of yearning, reflections of love’s passed. The Cliff holds classic American twangs, whilst Oh Katherine, is a string filled heaven of a song. Her voice is as soft and delicate as a peach, whilst her fearless approach to singing from the darker depths of her consciousness matches the strings perfectly.
She is much like a Californian Kate Bush, but less obviously ethereal and screaming. Or she could be a gentler Alela Diane or singular Mountain Man. Black Silk has to be my personal favourite. The Law is guitar based, slow and… actually quite a lot like my Grandpa’s Grandfather clock. It wraps you up. Says it’s all ok. For a little bit of this, here we have ‘The Law’, for you to download for free: here. Download it now.
Frontera 450+, at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston Texas. A show dedicated to the women of Juarez and their situation. This inspired me to start the project. i had moved back to Norway at the time and I wanted to create a project that somehow diminished the distance, the physical distance to the place and the psychological distance to take in information of such difficult issues. I wanted to create a connection, because violence towards women is a global issue, happening in every society, rich or poor, far or near.The situation in Juarez is extremely complex and very difficult to describe using just a few words. But I think it is very important to share that despite the horror that still are happening and the increasing violence towards both men and women due to a war on drugs in the city, the women and the community I have seen and collaborated with is not a victimized community, it is a community of an enormous strength and ability to fight back and with a believe in change. Believe in change through working with the youth, education, support of the families so they can speak for themselves. It is all organized with the smallest means and in an environment of violence and mistrust. The government’s attempts on improvements are described by the activists as cosmetic.”
Jean Pierre Braganza S/S 2012 illustration by 
