The sound of zeitgeist
WOW!!!
And that could effectively be the end of the review, and entirely do this evening justice, as to attempt to translate such happenings into words really does the event and moments a disservice. But as FLUSH is absolutely on a (just) quest to make sure all of humanity hears pianist Belle Chen live at some stage in their life, we’re effectively doing essential humanitarian work.
Clearly there’s an element of play and jest in that comment, but the greater part is deeply true, such are the truly therapeutic qualities of Belle’s works. We’ve covered the album Ravel in the Forest, a once-in-a-lifetime live experience, and the recent beautiful meditative reworks of the album. And now to her headline gig as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival accompanied by Engines Orchestra and support by violinist and composer Anna Phoebe.
That old adage where a parent might say you can tell a lot about someone by the friends they keep have a transferable trait into live music too, in that if it is an artist who genuinely believes in mutual nurturing, absolute respect in fellow creatives, and the highest quality of experience for the audience. As in blatantly clear in all of our experiences with Belle, that is a resounding HELL YES!!!
All too often, I’ve seen support acts that were chosen to make the main act look better, given constricted or minimal resources on the sound quality or expanse, which only goes to show the shallowness of their own work, and sense of being. A true master surrounds themselves with the best, hopefully even better, where all grow, flourish and reap. Growth, learning and evolution are central, it’s the magic behind moments.
I hadn’t seen Anna Phoebe live before, though I have heard her works on 6 Music many at times, particularly through support from Mary Anne Hobbs (who is probably responsible for introducing me to more artists than any DJ ever), and they have both collaborated, performed together at the 6 Music Festival in Manchester earlier this year.
Anna is EVERYTHING I love about contemporary classical music. Long gone is the preconceived ‘stuffy’, gate keeping notions of a tragically long period where such music was solely for a certain demographic, a vacuous veneer, that was used to keep out the riff-raff, an obscene misuse of an art that is genuinely universal.
What we are giddily experiencing before us is a figure that looks and feels like Neo in The Matrix has decided to pause fighting machines for 45 minutes, and decided to pick up the violin to share stories from many journeys, conversations, and again, universal experiences. With a myriad of different violins, samplers, meandering vocals, beats, drum machines, and elegant long black leather, we are beautifully steered through tales from beaches, to women’s rugby, satellite construction, and the stars beyond. It is wonderful.
Belle’s entourage is significantly bigger, 15 musicians building on the live show we saw at The Stone Nest. Given the expanse of the venue, and its 17.1.8 L-Acoustics L-ISA 360º Immersive Hyperreal sound system, this is of course the only way to go, continuing and actively growing the aural flora adventures that birthed in a forest. What was once a seedling of an idea, grown in a container, is now sonically let loose to grow freely, forever.
Belle deftly captures moments, memories, textures, emotions, colours, temperatures, breezes, tastes and smells, and transitions them into sound, to be magically transported to all of us there, where they immediately envelop and unfurl into our own internal paintings and sensations. We’ve written about it numerous times before, so we’ll not repeat it all.
What this venue and sound stage offers is breathtaking though, the tiniest and most isolated of notes act like an on-switch, flipping your senses into an entirely different perspective mode at the stroke of a key. Notes literally fly over head like migrating memories, virtual beasts call from distances far and near, and a beautiful new addition to the mix, samples of Belle’s dulcet warm cadence are mixed in with a hypnotic effect. Not only is this a much bigger new vista and landscape, but there’s even more playful exploration going on. Living, breathing and being, life represented in a full spectrum of humanity and technology.
The sound has the capacity to be huge, but for me, the real power was in the quieter, simpler moments, captivating precision in strings, a gentle breeze across keys, or the awe of Korean artist Seayool playing piri (double reed wind instrument), all showing the true capacity of the system. Anyone can be loud, but true craft is in the smallest of details. The very seeds that will one day become forests, for all… there is nothing better than this contemporary empathic approach Belle epitomises, a collective enhancement of this all too brief moment, we call life.
More information can be found at www.bellechen.com.