A mini festival that had the cosiness of an intimate concert among friends

This was an evening that started by attending an open rehearsal of New Movement Collective at the recently RIBA awarded Rambert Dance School at Southbank. Having left from this FOTF1insightful event on time for the solo of Lloyd James I arrived at Surya, on time for Fear Of The Forest for reasons that were beyond my control. It was the first time that I was listening to Fear Of The Forest live and having been recently introduced to their music, I expected to listen to something similar to Louisa John Kroll. The final result meant to prove me wrong as the band’s positioning on stage, gave off a rather traditional feel. Coming from FOTF3Greece, the image of rebetiko bands is very strong in me, with members sitting next to each other forming a line or half a circle which opens to the audience. Fear Of The Forest had a very similar visual effect. The music, the positioning of Kate Arnold, her style and her voice, were the elements that differentiated this band from the almost old fashioned rebetiko bands of the 1950s. Jon Clayton, Nick Bieber,Chris Silvey and Mark Stefanicki,using a lot of instruments (cello, violin, dulcimer, daf) including some unusual ones (i.e. hurdy gurdy which is associated with the music traditions of Western Europe and Middle East) Fear Of The Forest played songs with soothing melodies and created a warm atmosphere that captured everyone’s attention. These melodies had elements from the music of Epirus and Crete in Greece, enriched with ethereal vocals.We listened to ‘Ordinary Man’, ‘Ruler Of Destiny, Thou Hast Spoken Words’, ‘Charlotte Anne (Julian Cope)’ before the setlist closed with a song that, sadly, referred to the singer’s own family and was called ‘Family ‘. This band’s appearance was registered with me as a very warm storytelling experience with music and I’ m looking forward to seeing them again in the near future.

Matawan were next on stage.Their program was shorter than Fear Of The Forest and less interesting musically. As we’ve said in the introductory text, this is a drone/ambient band Matawan2which focuses on the creation of abstract soundscapes. The two musicians, built up their track by manipulating frequencies and adding a few notes at the bass and guiMatawan1tar. Matawan need to work more on their stage appearance as they spent the majority of their time on stage leaning above the controllers and not making any contact with the audience. Even though most of the bands which are part of the experimental electronics genre are not very communicative on stage, Matawan’s positioning and overall behaviour on stage created the impression that this is an amateur band which doesn’t have experience on stage as the positioning of their instruments and controllers proved to be inconvenient for them and hampered the quality of their performance. I would personally expect to see this band opening the festival and not being directly before Sieben.

Sieben1The headliner of this mini festival was Sieben a.k.a Matt Howden. Appearing in a white outfit and having at the audience Jo Quail and (if I’m not mistaken) Justin Jones from And Also The Trees, he offered a unique performance full of melody, contemplating mood and originality. If there is such an entity as a violin whisperer, then this is Matt Howden. We are talking about a musician that plays the violin with his whole body, including his chin. The fiddlestick is no longer just one of the necessary tools for playing the violin.Sieben has assigned a role to the fiddlestick as an additional conveyor of ideas and meaning.As a rope that was moving in a ritualistic way, suspended in the air ready to catch anything in front of it,the fiddlestick in the hands of Matt Howden, had an active and unconventional role in the performance. It even resembled a burning candle in an imaginary sSieben4etting having powerful inherent dynamics, being almost autochtone.

It’s been 5 years since the last time I saw Sieben live at Bar&Co in Thames, as part of the event called Ship Of Fools. That time, the talented Laura Moody was the support act but there were no complementary visuals during the concert. During this live at Surya, even though the visuals by Dottintheshark, were projected only to a small part of the wall behind Sieben and were not visible by everyone, they gave a new dimension to the performance and their contribution  was positive. We listened to older and new songs and Sieben kept for the end a very pleasant surprise…We listened to Sieben5b He Can Delve In Hearts ‘ from the album ‘No Less Than All’, while ‘ Sleep,Clara Bow ‘ and ‘ Jigsaw Chainsaw ‘ from the last album called ‘Each Divine Spark’ were also included in the set list. ‘ Love’s Promise ‘ from the excellent album ‘Sex And Wildflowers’ and ‘ Ogham The Sun ‘ from ‘ Ogham Inside The Night’ made the connection with Sieben’s past releases. ‘ Black Moon Rise Again ‘ was also included in the setlist.

Matt Howden was very communicative and pleasant with the audience not only when he was performing but between songs as well. An intimate atmosphere was created  where each word of the lyrics was being absorbed in all its meaning and strength as Sieben’s gestures put more emphasis on the lyrics. Matt Howden had saved the best for the end. His setlist ended with a cover of the famous song ‘Transmission’ by Joy Division which didn’t leave anybody from the audience emotionally untouched.

A few words about the organisers of this mini festival

The live at Surya offered a completely different experience to the audience in all its aspects compared to other live gigs. This experience couldn’t have been as positive as it was, without the exceptionally good organisation of this mini festival. I have been attending live gigs in London for the past 7 years organized by different people in different spaces. This is not an evaluation of professionalism by the organizers but about an additional, greatly appreciated quality that Kaparte Promotions has offered to this mini festival. Most of the times the organisers are not even present during a live gig, let alone introduce the bands, welcome and thank the audience in person. The welcoming attitude by the organizers was extended to the audience, the musicians and of course the dedicated for the event, Dj Blackdeath 1334. Each band was introduced before making an appearance on stage and after finishing its set a few words by the organizer helped the audience to make the transition to the next musician. This created the impression that this was a live gig offered from a great hostess to her loved friends. Never before have I felt personally so welcomed and appreciated in a live gig as I felt during this one. Dj Blackdeath 1334 whose setlist was also praised by the organizer and not unduly, chose to warm up Sieben’s appearance by playing two relevant and aesthetically similar to Sieben’s music, songs.’ Fall Apart ‘ by Death In June and ‘ Lunacy ‘ by Swans. These two songs which were played just before Sieben, created the perfect basis for the music of Matt Howden. The playlist also included songs by And Also The Trees (‘ Anchor Yard ‘), In the Nursery (‘ A to I ‘), Coil (‘ Things Happen ‘), Haus Arafna (‘ Independent ‘) and Kirlian Camera (‘ May ‘) among many others.When most of the people have left from Surya, the choice of ‘ Venus In Furs ‘ by Velvet Underground was ideal for closing this evening as I consider this song to offer the ideal closing sound, almost like an end titles song of a movie with strong, hidden and complex meanings.

You can see more photos from this live by following this link: https://blaue-rosen.com/siebenfear-of-the-forestlloyd-jamesnaevus-matawan-live-at-suryalondon/

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