Fresh from this summer’s Big Chill Festival, Keith Kenniff has hit London’s shores at Islington’s Union Chapel, a functioning church on Highbury Corner. With its church acoustics it is very much a quirky venue for this evening’s event, put on by Arctic Circle radio in association with our very own homegrown Type Records.
The atmosphere in the Union Chapel is tranquil and very much has the feeling of a performance at the Barbican Centre. The congregation ranges from older classical fans to young hipster couples both here to take in a evening of breath taking music.
The support are Rameses III, a band which blends post rock, electro acoustics and folk perfectly. Throughout their aural feast of a performance you can hear influences from such great names as Stars Of The Lid, Brian Eno and Fennez. They fill the massive space with airy bowed guitar, finger picked guitar and sustained samples. Barely even moving their instruments from their laps the band’s sound is what a angel would hear when the sun sets in the film Wings of Desire. This kind of music is not to everyone’s taste but our crowd takes it in like a light starter to a evening of experimental music.
Keith Kenniff humbly takes to the stage as Goldmund and places himself by what looks like the church’s own piano. He edges close to genius with stunning minimal broken phrases overlaid on subtle ambient drones provided by the glowing laptop beside him. The room is filled with a silence composed of shock and awe. From the first note no-one has taken a single breath. Every one of us stares pensively at the stage or at the bleached dream-like visuals of his fingers projected high above our heads. Goldmund, unlike others in this genre, is not afraid of melody or tune. He slips it in between the slow broken grouped notes of his signature short songs barely moving his hands away from the center of the upright piano. After introducing himself, Goldmund punctures our hearts one last time injecting something that could only be called beauty.
After a short intermission he steps onto the stage for a second time joined by his wife Holly. Helios reminds us what a beat sounds like with their American indie-cum-experimental electronica sound mixing up ideas from Boards of Canada, The Postal Service and God knows what else to a refined mish mash. Without a lyrical insight Helios holds interest, only using their mics to provide an extra layer to their already complex arrangements. It’s almost refreshing to hear the sound of live drums and reverby guitar after Goldmund. Helios puts on a great performance for enthusiastic seated crowd. Tonight Goldmund has stolen the show. The feeling in the room is that however much the crowd came to see Helios; this evening they have walked dreamy eyed about Goldmund’s awe inspiring performance.
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