So sad that this venue apparently really is to close down soon. Just starting to get comfortable with the place.
Melanie Horsnell was the only support act this evening. I'd been meaning to check her out for a while now. Her set was very sweet and quiet, her up front in a pretty black dress with a guitar. Cute songs about crushes in supermarkets and songs inspired by listening to Boys II Man on the beach. There was also a Dolly Parton cover in there. Some really pretty pop music.
Inga Liljestrom's new project involved a harp, xylophone, drums, electric bass, cello, double bass and other bits and pieces and laptop. Inga came out and knelt down at the front of the stage with a note book and a bright red telephone receiver and a microphone. The set was quite quiet, and a bit out there and experimental. But when the band worked itself up, there was a beat and a rhythm there to get heads nodding to the swelling soundscapes.
The drummer and the cello and double bass grabbed my attention the most. Partly because they were my favourite instruments to begin with, I must confess. The drummer never overwhelms the quieter instruments, but it did stand out a bit with some fantastic playing. And the cello and double bass just tugs some special emotional strings for me.
The set really was largely improvised, with Inga visibly signaling and gesturing for various members to build up and calm down, and she herself flicking thru her note book for words to sing, to wisper, to repeat down the telephone line.
Quiet Music for Quiet People has been described as desert music, and it fills that brief in their record. But live, they move things more inner city, conjuring up images of concrete expanses, music from passing cars, private conversations of people passing by.
Enchanting.