Festival Fringe, Buxton, 11th July
We began setting up at 4.30pm, which seemed like plenty of time before we needed to open the doors – but as usual we needed every minute. The acoustics were a challenge at first, with the piano too reverberant, but one of Richard’s friends, Simon, was very knowledgable in this area and we soon got it worked out.
Our stage layout was ideal compared to the cosy setup at the High Peak Bookstore.
A friendly audience – 21 of them – seemed to really enjoy our music and most of the tunes went well, with just a few glitches on Between Intrigue and Wonder.
The Fringe Reviewer gave us a good review – see below.
“Gifts From Crows are made up of Richard Laurence, keyboards, Helen Southall, alto and baritone saxophones and Garfield Southall, percussion.
From the opening piano chords of the first composition, ‘A Persistent Dream’, echoes of minimalist composers such as Ludovico Einaudi and Philip Glass were apparent, and (from information provided after the performance by Richard Laurence) Wim Mertens and Yann Tiersen.
Clues to the overall direction of the performance could be gleaned from the title of this composition too, as there is of course a ‘persistence’ and a hypnotic quality woven into the fabric of the music within the minimalist (both classical and avant garde) movements, emanating from America in the 1960s (Terry Riley ‘In C’ for instance) and indeed the trance strand of the ‘dance/electronica’ that emerged in the 1990s. Think also of the work of Estonian classical composer Arvo Pärt in the 1970s.
And the music also contained a ‘dreamy’ element too, injected into the music by Helen Southall on her alto and baritone saxophones, the echo of the acoustics in the venue adding considerably to the ethereal nature of the performance. This was underpinned by Garfield Southall’s sympathetic accompaniments on his extensive array of percussive instruments, employing the techniques of the classical percussionist, accenting, interjecting and enhancing, as opposed to the snare drum/hi-hat/kick drum technique of a rhythm-based group.
All 12 compositions were short, two to four minutes mostly, aside from the penultimate ‘Seasons Suite’, a four-part evocation of autumn, winter, spring and summer, and can be heard on their three albums of material released on SoundCloud and Spotify.
Spoken word samples and a monastic chorus were included in a couple of the numbers too, and if one wished to categorise the music, then maybe ‘Ambient Minimalism out of Neoclassical’ may suffice.
A large screen above the group displayed images from film and still photography, enhancing the mood of peace and harmony, already prevalent via the ambience within the venue.
21 people were in the ‘congregation’ and gave due appreciation of both the music and the food and drink thoughtfully provided by the group.
David McPhie”
garfieldsouthall.com 