Kathryn Joseph and SHHE South Street Arts Centre 20th February 2019
Live music at South Street Arts centre is always a special experience. It is such a small setting that every performance there has a real sense of sharing something magical. On Wednesday evening I saw two performers I'd never seen live before: Kathryn Joseph supported by SHHE.
I was introduced to the music of Kathryn Joseph early in the New Year: having heard the album she released in 2018 ('From When I Wake The Want Is' - see earlier post here ) I had to get her debut album too. Bewitched? Entranced? I'm not sure which word comes closest to the way her songs insinuated their way into my brain, but several songs have now taken up residence, so when I saw she was playing in Reading, I had to get tickets...
Let's start, however, as the evening did, with SHHE. I have to confess I had not heard of SHHE before getting tickets for the gig but decided not to listen to anything recorded beforehand so as to listen with open ears on the night. I'm glad I did, it made the set all the more surprising. SHHE, a solo performer, took to a stage already set up with electric guitar, synth, electronic drum, bass drum and the odd effects pedal. The opening number was just SHHE singing to a synth backdrop - I don't recall the name of the song - but over the course of her set, she switched instruments and used layers of repeating vocals to mesmeric effect. Her set included her two recorded songs - 'Eyes Shut' and 'Boy' (both available on a cool clear vinyl 7" single) - and I look forward to hearing more as the year unfolds. Here's 'Eyes Shut' from YouTube
{Somebody posted that Mark Hollis has died this evening. Surely this can't be true?}
{On Tuesday it was confirmed. Mark Hollis is dead. Damn. I must re-route my brain back to SHHE and Kathryn Joseph. I will, at some point soon, write something about Talk Talk. }
SHHE seemed very comfortable on stage dropping in the odd anecdote about being on tour with Kathryn and how much fun it was.
As it's taken me so damn long to write this post I now have time to include SHHEs just posted video to accompany 'Boy'
At around 9:15 Kathryn, adorned all in white, took to the stage whilst remarking - in stark contrast to the white - on the onset of the redder lunar phase.
Sitting at an electric piano she began a set of quiet passion, largely with songs from 'From When I Wake The Want Is'
Sitting at an electric piano she began a set of quiet passion covering songs from 'From When I Wake The Want Is'. What can I say of the performance? Well, first off, I loved it: at times I was transfixed. (I met a friend at the gig and she'd come along without having heard Kathryn before - she also loved it and was moved by the performance.)
Thinking back I'm trying to recall some of the best moments: I loved the between song anecdotes, most memorably the one about Stuart Braithwaite's (of Mogwai fame) daughter singing one of her songs...in order to protect the innocent I'll not fully repeat the story. I really like it when a band or artist has interesting between song chatter (not just saying 'and this is x off our last album') - it's especially good in small venues like South Street.
Songs that were highlights of the set for me included 'Mountain'...
...'Weight'...
I was introduced to the music of Kathryn Joseph early in the New Year: having heard the album she released in 2018 ('From When I Wake The Want Is' - see earlier post here ) I had to get her debut album too. Bewitched? Entranced? I'm not sure which word comes closest to the way her songs insinuated their way into my brain, but several songs have now taken up residence, so when I saw she was playing in Reading, I had to get tickets...
Let's start, however, as the evening did, with SHHE. I have to confess I had not heard of SHHE before getting tickets for the gig but decided not to listen to anything recorded beforehand so as to listen with open ears on the night. I'm glad I did, it made the set all the more surprising. SHHE, a solo performer, took to a stage already set up with electric guitar, synth, electronic drum, bass drum and the odd effects pedal. The opening number was just SHHE singing to a synth backdrop - I don't recall the name of the song - but over the course of her set, she switched instruments and used layers of repeating vocals to mesmeric effect. Her set included her two recorded songs - 'Eyes Shut' and 'Boy' (both available on a cool clear vinyl 7" single) - and I look forward to hearing more as the year unfolds. Here's 'Eyes Shut' from YouTube
{Somebody posted that Mark Hollis has died this evening. Surely this can't be true?}
{On Tuesday it was confirmed. Mark Hollis is dead. Damn. I must re-route my brain back to SHHE and Kathryn Joseph. I will, at some point soon, write something about Talk Talk. }
SHHE seemed very comfortable on stage dropping in the odd anecdote about being on tour with Kathryn and how much fun it was.
As it's taken me so damn long to write this post I now have time to include SHHEs just posted video to accompany 'Boy'
Sitting at an electric piano she began a set of quiet passion, largely with songs from 'From When I Wake The Want Is'
Sitting at an electric piano she began a set of quiet passion covering songs from 'From When I Wake The Want Is'. What can I say of the performance? Well, first off, I loved it: at times I was transfixed. (I met a friend at the gig and she'd come along without having heard Kathryn before - she also loved it and was moved by the performance.)
Thinking back I'm trying to recall some of the best moments: I loved the between song anecdotes, most memorably the one about Stuart Braithwaite's (of Mogwai fame) daughter singing one of her songs...in order to protect the innocent I'll not fully repeat the story. I really like it when a band or artist has interesting between song chatter (not just saying 'and this is x off our last album') - it's especially good in small venues like South Street.
Songs that were highlights of the set for me included 'Mountain'...
...'Weight'...
...'We Have Been Loved By Our Mothers'...
...and I could have picked several others like 'And It Will lick You Clean', but I will close with a bit of live footage from a different date on this tour, just to give a flavour...
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