EMILY BARKER AND THE RED CLAY HALO
Los Salvadores are first up and they’re as splendid as ever. They delve into their catalogue with ease, covering century after century of Kent’s past with their history lessons set to music. There’s “Red Blood on a White Horse” about the Picts, Danes and Saxons fighting it over Thanet (no sniggering at the back there).
There’s also the tale of the captain of a shipwrecked boat freezing to death on the steps of a pub in Oare. And there’s “These Trees” which gets the following caveat from French horn player, Vicky: “We write about death – but in an upbeat way.”
It’s impossible to get too much of this band. Over the past couple of months, this reviewer has been in danger of overdosing on the band. But Los Salvadores’ unique sound – and their unique approach to song writing (who else writes about the “French invasion of Sandwich in the 12th century and how it was repelled by supernatural means”) allows for fresh discoveries upon each listen.
It’s another tight performance from the band. Pitch perfect and rather elegant.
Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo
Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo:
Tonight’s headliners have spent the afternoon and early evening making slow progress from last night’s venue, Stroud in Gloucestershire, to Kemsing. Tomorrow they’ll be heading up to London to appear on Dermot O’Leary’s Radio 2 show. It’s a busy old time for the band.
Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo produce some of the most heartfelt, beautiful songs it’s possible to hear. The all female band features a violin, cello, guitar and flute with occasional appearances from an accordion and electric guitar.
The band open with “Little Deaths”, a song with a rich sound. It explores a similar territory to that of the Smoke Fairies who played Rochester a few weeks back. A soothing song, peaceful and relaxing, it could easily soundtrack a gentle boat trip down the river.
Kemsing may seem an odd venue for a gig. But when you hear this sumptuous song with its thick, rustic and naturalistic tone, venue and sound match each other perfectly.
The songs continue to pour out, calm and soothing: “Ropes”, “All Love Knows” (about long distance relationships which “sometimes work and sometimes…don’t”) and “Blackbird” (about being on the other side of the world from your loved ones: Barker is originally from Australia) wash over the audience with something of a healing power.
There’s a clear theme in Barker’s songs. They are about friends and family, life and love, and the attempt to negotiate your way through confusions and crises.
Fans of bleak crime dramas will already be familiar with the songs of Emily Barker. Her “Nostalgia” was used over the credits of Kenneth Brannagh’s “Wallander”. Meanwhile “Pause” has recently featured on the opening sequence of the BBC2 bent cops versus virtuous criminals drama “The Shadow Line”.
The introspective mood of both songs fit the angst ridden nature of the shows in question: both series featured detectives agonising as much over their chaotic personal lives as they did about the crimes they were investigating. However, it’s interesting to discover neither song is particularly connected to the themes of the dramas.
“Nostalgia”, as used for a Swedish police procedural, is actually about memories of life, family and friends in Melbourne, while “Pause”, is less about drug deals, corrupt police forces and psychotic men wearing trilbies, more about the need, as Barker introduces the song “to take time out of our busy lives and spend time with the people we love the most.”
These two songs get the largest applause from the ever so polite audience. Doubtless this is in part due to them being the most recognisable of the songs on the set list.
But irrespective of their glittery small screen associations, “Nostalgia” and “Pause” are utterly exquisite: perfectly formed, haunting songs. They both come from some liminal space, part way between this world and some intangible other place.
Similar things could be said about another song the quartet perform: “Bones” which is “dedicated to the indigenous people of Australia,” Barker explains. “And tells how things are often swept under the carpet.”
Where other songs summon up images of babbling brooks and walking across the Cornish landscape, this song, this song is firmly rooted in the landscape of Australia, possibly looking out across the Blue Mountains, watching the sun daub light on the Three Sisters and the mist rise over the many square miles of forest. Truly beautiful.
The remaining songs of the evening are slightly more upbeat, merging country with folk stylings. “Disappear” turns into something of a barnstorming number while encore “Fields of June” details the “argument between a guy and a girl”.
It’s been a fantastic night: by turns tender, warm and beautiful. From the most unlikely of venues has emerged an evening to last in the memory for a long time yet. Truly wonderful.
And now to confront that rain again…
Event Promoter: http://www.brandywinemusic.co.uk/