John Metcalfe and Daniel Bachman at Colston Hall on Sunday 8 May 2016 review
Posted on: 2016-05-09
Our rating:
A double-bill of faultless, seductively riveting music by two exemplars of their art.
Multi-talented musicians John Metcalfe and Daniel Bachman led an enthralled Colston Hall audience through a set of enrapturing, innovative musical storytelling when they played at the venue on Sunday 8 May 2016.
Run as part of The Lantern's Sunday night series, the evening was a thrilling, enchanting and utterly sublime musical tapestry that cast its bewitching spell throughout the whole two hours.
Crossing the borders of fantasy, reality and the hypnotic journeys through which only true, cross multi-medium sonic realms can take you, this was an ambient, beautiful, divine, occasionally surreal trip through the musical minds and journeys of its chief performing protagonists.
Entitled The Last Train Track, the concert's main intention of the evening was to weave the listeners through a compelling soundscape of dreams and ideas interpreted through intimate compositions. And on that level, it grandly, epically succeeded.
Daniel Bachman - solo on stage with acoustic guitar - made for a stunning intro to the concert. Drawing on bluegrass, hillbilly and country stylings, his meticulous riffs, astonishing technique and impeccable mastery left the audience spellbound. Confident and assured, if anything, his set was too short.
John Metcalfe and his ensemble followed, the New Zealand-born musical polymath weaving intricate musical odes enmeshed in the furtive, symbiotic aural juxtapositions of electronica, minimalist awe, captivating instrumentals and trippy, haunting beats. A series of hallucinogenic, dizzying projections above the players added immeasurably to the effect.
An effortless, gutsy fusion of jazz, light pop rock, post-classical and electronics, his set of compositions was a mesmerizing, beautifully constructed mix of foot-tapping, rhythmic ensemble thrashes and melodically haunting, ghostly preternatural mystery.
A particularly moving, poignant musical liturgy was inspired a friend of Metcalfe's who took his life last year, while Rosie Doonan's soulful, mellifluously ethereal vocals added a touchingly human core to some of the tracks.
Metcalfe has collaborated with musicians across pop, dance, film, TV and theatre, including the likes of Morissey, Blur, Coldplay and Peter Gabriel as well as being a member of the Duke Quartet - and it shows. His compositions are a skillful confluence of all of those genres, often invoking the likes of Brian Eno and Moby, sonically diverse and rich, always utterly compelling.
A double-bill of faultless, seductively riveting music by two exemplars of their art.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for the Bristol events website.
Article by:
Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
