KOAN 3: Hapsburg Braganza / Paul Taylor / Zassõ Fukei / Jewel - Live at The Globe, Newcastle

For this concluding night of the KOAN trilogy, curator Martin Donkin invited some personal favourites to guide this special series around improvisation home.  

Donkin and Davey Sax (Jewel) set about calibrating ears for this more gentle instalment, with a continuous piece of saxophone / electric guitar improvisation based around Śūnyatā. The rising tides of sound inside were tonic, but mixed with the Referendum rain outside the windowpane.

After preparing the space meticulously with an array of tools, Ant Macari (Zassõ Fukei) played with the idea of communication; opposing immediate moments (cymbal-head-hit) with lengthy unveilings of written poetry, using looped music and a guitar-paintbrush.

    “the lengths we go / stone / upon stone / to remain / apart”

Introduced as someone who should be “performing on the stages around Europe,” Paul Taylor’s face was bashful, however, such a sentiment was soon proven warranted as the keys took over his form, ingeniously mixing a multitude of influences including Debussy’s Impressionism, and 70’s Fusion.     

As Phil Begg (Hapsburg Braganza) took a seat with his five-string electric, the accumulated warmth upstairs at The Globe rested gently on the faces, and, combined with the dying light, welcomed dreaming. Begg’s shimmering instrumentals lead from Lute-esque dances to slower pieces, evoking such images as sprawling cornfields, perhaps. Turning further to more abstract compositions, his confidence realised itself here, playing with the imperfections. 

[2016.06.24] for NARC Magazine.

Hapsburg Braganza / Yeah You / Kieran Rafferty / Alright Lover - Live at The Globe, Newcastle

Upstairs at The Globe, gig-goers relax on the balcony in a bright Summer eve, whilst sound-checks are completed. On first, Alright Lover (Craig Pollard) starts on his knees, mildly neurotic, building prerecorded phrases with his sampler. These carefully constructed sounds underlie songs sung with fragility and angst.

You may have enjoyed Kieran Rafferty live before, with his impeccable voice of saxophone melodies and bright chordal tensions from his Fender. Tonight, our next act’s sound is expanded, as certain technologies divide the notes he plays on his Jaguar as part bass-simulation, part traditional electric guitar tones. Drum loops complete orchestration, and these new songs grip the room.

The only guarantee of Yeah You live is knowing you will be surprised, and that is a fantastic guarantee.The sonic organisms created tonight, from a square table of toys, are less volatile than many of their previous pieces. One light creature was born when a keyboard demonstration was accidentally triggered and then eaten up into their style of improvisation.

Due to the rhythmic energy of preceding acts, Hapsburg Braganza’s exquisite soundscape painting brought the feelings in the room safely to land for the night. Phil Begg started his set with a minute of eclectic snipped spoken quotations before embarking on a rich collage centrepiece of ambient sounds.

[2015.07.23] for NARC Magazine.