Skip to main content

Brass: Fractal Sparks at Durham Cathedral

Something of a last minute plan but M and I had high hopes of the 18th July Fractal Sparks event based on information from the people at Brass: Durham International Festival. The show was billed as a multimedia spectacular featuring Jo Hamilton, Lanterns on the Lake, Durham County Youth Big Band (DCBB) and The Band of the Royal Corps of Signals

Arriving early at Durham Cathedral, the venue filled up in a relaxed manner, and was completely full by showtime. The event was effectively 2 concerts and the first concert featured Newcastle band Lanterns on the Lake with DCBB. This 45 minute-odd set was a very relaxed affair. We hadn't heard any Lanterns music before, but they have a keys/guitar/violin/drums setup mixing low-fi indie and post-rock sounds. The band seemed a little nervous (slightly limited stage talk) but we enjoyed the set. The songs which worked best with DCBB (and at least 1 song had been written especially for this concert) were 'To My Soul', 'Crawl' and 'Tricks'. The audience was very polite throughout (maybe also awed by the surroundings) but were very enthusiastic at the end of the set, especially for the DCBB.

After a rather long interval, we had complete darkness (and a few moments of complete, expectant silence) just before Jo Hamilton started her set. The visual aspect started off very well with a full-length screen behind the stage. The six members of the Signals were seated behind the screen with lighting used to highlight or hide them as the set went on. Initially the 'complete' concert worked well, but this second half then went downhill. We were no more familiar with Jo Hamilton's work, however after the first 15 minutes or so her songs started to become repetitive, with no structure for the evening, or harmonic/rhythmic development between songs. We found her vocal range limited but pushed; there was little or no melodic instrument line; the other band musicians (bass, synth/keys and drums) all looked very bored. After some excellent scenes (such as a cycle of blossoms falling from a tree - changing seasons) the visual works became rather tame and there were a few technical issues with the video. Jo's songs had not been sufficiently arranged to allow for brass accompaniment so there were rather fewer brass elements than many attendees would have liked. Indeed the general audience atmosphere changed from expectantly excited through to mildly bored, with applause becoming more muted. The high point of the second set was a trumpet solo about half way through. Superb solo, shame about the rest.

The concert was and remains a good thematic idea but the implementation didn't work out. We stayed until the end of the main set, however there were people leaving early; an unfortunate end to what had started out as an excellent evening.    

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Au quatrieme fois..

A jaunt en masse down to the Coal Exchange last night (23rd) to see The Subways excel again. For once we weren't massively early (in some ways to avoid the queues of teenagers) so arrived part way through the first support band. They are called Wry, from Brazil even! They were decent and will probably merit listening to further. Best option the ubiquitous myspace . Eagerly anticipated the main support, The Sunshine Underground, of whom I'd heard good words... They more than lived up to their expectations, with my only real niggle about their sound... whether it was the singer's style or sound mix I'm not sure but their show was at parts ear-splitting - explains my slight deafness today! Otherwise excellent, not an easy band to categorise, but my impressions were somewhere between Alabama 3 and the Killers' Hot Fuss album; dancing music too. Well worth going to see - just take earplugs! (or in my case, actually go out and buy some). I believe one can listen to the...

4 and 5

Busy weekend. Number 4 was the 2nd Innercity Pirates night at Clwb Ifor Bach, spread the word to another friend so a highly successful evening! Again, Red City were the (only) support, who were still underwhelming and may even have got worse! Luckily a short set. The main Pirates set was much more polished than the last one, they have been practicing!! Only mishap this time when an overenthusiastic fan accidentally stood on a connector! Quite a different set, this time almost totally from the 3 recent EPs with the only oldies Whisper The Fear, and 'that song' from last time - which is called The Little Pills We Love. For the set list, simply check out the track listings for the 3 EPs on their website ! Number 5 entailed a visit to Coal Exchange to see Mogwai . Luckily the buses were back to normal - well normal for a Sunday ie nothing late at night! Slightly more interesting support band, The Magnificents (sound: a mix between Mogwai, Syntax and The Killers ), although I did ...

From Black Rose to Buena Vista

Two very different but equally impressive live experiences this last weekend. First up, our long overdue homage to the late, great Phil Lynott as Limehouse Lizzy returned to the Point on Friday 2nd March. Certainly on form (and not just lead singer Wayne Ellis, mmmm!) After a late doors, the band came on for a 2 hour set. They started off with Jailbreak (with added pyro), the rest of the main set comprising known songs like Dancing In The Moonlight, Warrior, Emerald, Johnny the Fox, Are You Ready, Killer On The Loose, Cold Sweat, Do Anything You Want To, Out In The Fields, Cowboy Song, Rosalie, The Boys Are Back In Town plus at least 1 early track. The encore included 1 verse/1 chorus from Sarah, Black Rose, Whisky In The Jar and another track. Excellent atmosphere, the place was sold out. The boys are back at the Point in December. Next on to crowd pleasers of a very different sort. M and I managed to get tickets for the sold-out Buena Vista Social Club show at Wales Millennium Centr...