I know, never say never! But according to my recent plan this show on the last day of November was the closer for my personal live music season before taking a little break until mid January.
Two artists, who I had both seen before this year promised a comfort zone night full of captivating beautiful music, but also sets which would be a little different due to new albums being released and it being a different kind of gig for either.
Two artists, who I had both seen before this year promised a comfort zone night full of captivating beautiful music, but also sets which would be a little different due to new albums being released and it being a different kind of gig for either.
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| KARIN PARK |
Man, this must be so annoying for you, but I just can't help it: me always dropping those Roadburn references. Well, obviously the occasion on which I had seen Karin Park before had been the festival in Tilburg, both performing solo and with her husband in their band Årabrot. Yet when I entered the Hafenklang venue to my absolute surprise I also felt reminded of Lingua Ignota's Skatepark show there in 2019, simply because Karin's keyboards were set up on the floor amidst the audience in front of the stage and being surround by lamps as main light source. Of course this show however wouldn't be conjuring frightening horrors, but using the same close proximity to touch the listeners in a different way.
With exception of the obvious hit "Thousand Loaded Guns" and the new "Traces Of Me" her set exclusively comprised the new, often minimalistic takes of her catalogue as heard on her recent album "Private Collection". And while she built an adequate musical backdrop with the various modern and vintage toys surrounding her, the most important ingredient of course were her distinct spectacular vocals. Standing there just an arm's length away it really struck me what a wondrous instrument the human voice is. And how seemingly effortless she would create such an emotionally embracing magic. This was a special experience I can only downgrade by talking too much about it.
For the last song "Blue Roses" Karin finally went onto the small stage to play on the one piece from her pump organ collection which qualified for accompanying her through Europe, just because it was the only one small enough. And the certain grittiness of her voice in that particular song... wow!
I would definitely have endured a show two or three tracks longer.
With exception of the obvious hit "Thousand Loaded Guns" and the new "Traces Of Me" her set exclusively comprised the new, often minimalistic takes of her catalogue as heard on her recent album "Private Collection". And while she built an adequate musical backdrop with the various modern and vintage toys surrounding her, the most important ingredient of course were her distinct spectacular vocals. Standing there just an arm's length away it really struck me what a wondrous instrument the human voice is. And how seemingly effortless she would create such an emotionally embracing magic. This was a special experience I can only downgrade by talking too much about it.
For the last song "Blue Roses" Karin finally went onto the small stage to play on the one piece from her pump organ collection which qualified for accompanying her through Europe, just because it was the only one small enough. And the certain grittiness of her voice in that particular song... wow!
I would definitely have endured a show two or three tracks longer.
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| A.A.WILLIAMS |
The big difference for A.A.Williams and her band was that the last time I had seen them not too long ago in August, they were supporting Mono, while this was the premiere of their first headlining show in Germany. In that position and in this smaller club I expected the performance to hit a little deeper and so it did. It's obviously hard to describe what exactly changed, apart from A.A. Williams playing more material from her new album "As The Moon Rests", which hadn't been released yet back then.
Compared to Karin Park before her A.A. Williams' stylistic formula felt a little more restricted, since she ultimately just fed that one particular vibe of Überwältigunsmelancholie, packed in slow shoegaze/postrock-epic contemporary gothic songs, which sometimes carried, often willfully washed over her warm voice and which are also often structured in the same way. I'm not complaining about those at all, because they are all huge and cathartically wholesome. But a couple of tracks in there shifting the mood or tempo would actually also let the Williams' standard tune shine more.
Among the many things one could praise about this band let me just point out the detailed nuanced play of the rhythm section! Bass and drums are just doing a lot of those little interesting things, which made me put on the respectful inner stankface. Great job!
Compared to Karin Park before her A.A. Williams' stylistic formula felt a little more restricted, since she ultimately just fed that one particular vibe of Überwältigunsmelancholie, packed in slow shoegaze/postrock-epic contemporary gothic songs, which sometimes carried, often willfully washed over her warm voice and which are also often structured in the same way. I'm not complaining about those at all, because they are all huge and cathartically wholesome. But a couple of tracks in there shifting the mood or tempo would actually also let the Williams' standard tune shine more.
Among the many things one could praise about this band let me just point out the detailed nuanced play of the rhythm section! Bass and drums are just doing a lot of those little interesting things, which made me put on the respectful inner stankface. Great job!
At the merch table I completed my Park album collection as far as possible and also grabbed the new A.A.Williams. So there are a couple of more new reviews coming here soon. Or soonish, since my to-do-list is growing daily, we'll see!
The whole mood of this night and how the audience (a good amount of attendees for a post-covid 2022 Wednesday) reacted to the artists was beautiful. Just the right note to end the season for me.
The whole mood of this night and how the audience (a good amount of attendees for a post-covid 2022 Wednesday) reacted to the artists was beautiful. Just the right note to end the season for me.
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