Sunday night was A-Sun Amissa, Fieldhead and N.Racker at the Bay Horse. Still a little bit wrecked from staying out until 6am Friday night/Saturday morning, it was tempting to do the old lady thing and stay home and sleep, but I really wanted to go! So I did, although I was good, and did sit and do some revision with a beer until Corky and Timbretone arrived. Yeah, that makes up for going out before your exams, honest.
Anyway, the gig. I recently met, courtesy of Corky, Richard Knox of Gizeh Records and Elaine Reynolds, sexy lady and violinist extraordinaire, and attendance on Sunday was in part due to curiosity about their respective musical talents, and in part because I wanted to hear N. Racker. It's been a while since I went to a gig entirely cold, I hadn't heard any of them previously, but I heard good things about Fieldhead from Corky, and I've heard rustles of interest around N.Racker that stirred my curiosity.
A-Sun Amissa is a musical collaboration between Richard Knox (Glissando, The Rustle of the Stars, Of Thread & Mist), Angela
Chan (Glissando, The Rustle of the Stars, Tomorrow We Sail) and Gareth Davis, though on Sunday the line up was just Knox and Chan playing a guitar and violin drone set. It was pretty. I'd describe it as the kind of music that you're supposed to get lost in, but I wasn't lost. I found myself observing the symmetry between the music and the images projected on the wall, and wondered which came first, whether composition framed images, or images augmented composition. Several times my mind wandered to completely unrelated places. Knox is talented at creating sounds with his guitar and pedal set up, and Chan similarly talented with her violin, yet I only found myself pleasantly entertained, not lost, and not moved. Hopefully that will come with time, because they are good. But not magical. Not yet.
Next up was Fieldhead, a project led by Paul Elam, and supported by violinists Elaine Reynolds (The Boats, The Declining Winter) and Sarah Kemp (Lanterns on the Lake, The Declining Winter). Sunday's set was Paul Elam and Elaine Reynolds. She is a sexy lady. And an exceptional violinist, and more than possibly what made this set for me. I actually haven't heard anything quite like Fieldhead for a while. It's ambient electronica, with lots of tape hiss and quite lovely string arrangements, but maintains quite a strong rhythmic quality, and made me think of slowed down techno, and left me with the most peculiar desire to play a load of dub when I got home. Don't be put off by this. They're quite awesome.
Last on the bill was N.Racker. I'd never played them before, and I assure you I'll be acquiring the entire N.Racker back catalogue as soon as funds deem it possible (curse thee, monies!). I believe the man in N.Racker is called Sam (?), though it's difficult to find information on the players of this outfit online - rather nicely they let what they make speak for itself. To a backdrop of old archive footage of woollen mills in Rochdale, this was the most fantastic thing I've seen in a while, him playing strings nailed and screwed onto old speakers and bridged with old batteries, playing them in turn like a harp, or with paint brushes and a handheld fan. She played a harmonium, some jingly jingly bells and a flute, as well as making some lovely vocal sounds. The improvised set showed off a beautiful musical collaboration, both parties playing off each other with a level of intuition that meant for an almost flawless set. I say almost flawless, there were a couple of moments where they could have been braver, build more intensity. There were moments that should have been pushed to more than you could bear. This was a performance that was hugely beautiful, and I was entirely engrossed, and not just because of the excitement of the homemade instruments and ingenious lovely. But I wanted to be pushed to feel more. N.Racker is capable of that, and I look forward to seeing them again.
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