Aldous Harding
Aldous Harding
May 28
Welcome to The Party
Where: Broadcast
When: 25 May 2017
Support: Katie Von Schleicher; H. Hawkline
Stop the Press! Broadcast sold out! (Presumably thanks to an appearance by New Zealander AH on Later, singing ‘Horizon’, a few days earlier).
That Later appearance produced a mini-Twitter storm due to the rather bizarre gurning faces AH pulled during her performance – and which she apologised for tonight, obviously embarrassed. However, if you had closed your eyes and just listened you would have heard an unforgettable voice (often compared to Joanna Newsom), with a unique way of elongating vowels and syllables – possibly another reason the basement was packed.
Tonight AH, dressed in white, commanded the room from the start – her dramatic voice, supported by her sparse finger picking guitar style, commanded us to listen intently and the crowd respectfully did so. She spent much of the set perched on her stool, legs astride, and (yes) face often contorted into strange shapes (but shapes that tonight were compelling). She had occasional backing from Huw Evans (who had provided the first support of the evening in his guise as H. Hawkline) on electronic keys.
She has called herself a gothic folk singer which aptly captures her eerie vocals and her at times confrontational stance. Most of the songs were slow quiet affairs, often laced with abrupt eruptions of more striking vocals, drenched in strange emotions (hints of Mazzy Star abounded) which transported the crowd to an absorbing, other world (‘What if Birds Don’t Sing They’re Screaming’). Musical highlights included ‘Horizon’, ‘Stop Your Tears’ and ‘Imaging My Man’ but really the whole gig was enthralling – I suspect the next time she plays Glasgow it will be in a much larger venue.
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