Echoes and dust

August 17 2008 @ The End, Newcastle.

Article by guest reviewer Faron Smith of Ryoga.

Tonight, new Newcastle venue The End showcased two pioneering artists making use of loop stations through their entire set. For the uninitiated, theses are pieces of kit that sample and repeat song parts recorded live (most famously used by the mighty Son of Dave and to annoying use by one KT 'woo-hoo' Tunstall). The end result here tonight in the case of both artists, is mostly a multi-layered sonic mantra that ebbs into your mind, in this way the technique consistently conjures a kind of, blissed out gospel feeling.

None more so than with opening act Nathalie Stern. Hailing from Sweden and having lived in the North East for the last ten years, she slowly builds up her timeless loops using just her voice (the only instrument on a couple of her tracks tonight), her guitar and a set of bells. At this point I should point out I was roughly a quarter of the audience, this gig criminally under-attended, yet for me perfectly intimate.

She opens up with 'Grat' using only her voice and a number of blissful harmonies. The audience (all 4 of us) erupts. Noticeably surprised, Nathalie remarks 'It sounds like there's 30 of you!' to which I replied, 'I could say the same about you!' Elsewhere in this spellbinding set, we are introduced to simple winding guitar riffery on tracks 'Oh my my' and 'Where the tides go by' and to a Swedish fairytale of collecting '7 flowers' under your pillow to dream of your soulmate. It's all delicate, magical, heartfelt and delivered with an uncluttered naked grace. She ends her set with traditional Swedish rhyme 'Du Ar Ilung', my personal highlight, it builds up a many layered lilting chorus then gently drowns itself, courtesy of Nathalie's tweaking of tempo, vibrato and backward sampling.

In the words of the next act, Rock Action records' Remember Remember, Nathalie played 'an awesome set'. These guys (3 of them) hail from Glasgow, and main man Graeme was actually part of Mogwai for a short time circa the tour of their Mr. Beast album (and has the tattoo to prove it). Now signed to their label and with an album out on the 5th of November (see what they did there?), they shuffle on to play the first of four songs (some easily breach the 10 minute mark).

Opening track 'Vendella' suffered technical problems lying solely withthe
house system, prompting Graeme to joke: 'You get the idea.' and cut the promising song dead. Much technical jiggery later and were back on track with the epic 'Fountain Mountain', one of the best songs I may have ever heard/witnessed live and no exaggeration. This epic song contains one of those 'eureka!' moments where everything gels, everything shifts up a gear, the minutes of wondering where the song is going turn to total conversion in an instant.

The time invested in watching him shuffle around the stage manipulating all manner of sounds pays off hugely when all the riff looping, stationary sampling and recorder playing are suddenly accompanied by the other members' luscious sax and violin and the beats start jumping. This song starts with our main man sampling popping bubble wrap and ends with the three nailing down a tight jazzy jam, Graeme jumping up and down playing a Gatona (a rare Russian made instrument resembling a guitar in the shape of a sickle that plays beats. No shit.). A lover of the weird and wonderful could ask for nothing more.

Next track 'Genie' I'd heard before and was as huge as expected, all musk and Floydian splendour. Graeme even uses his mobile to sample a saved message of a child's voice for the end of the track. Pure genius.
The final song, 'Up in a blue light', starts and catches the tail end of our applause in its wake, hilariously sampling our enthusiastic woops! Our cheers are joined by pretty xylophone, jaunty handclaps and airy suspense-laden guitar, hovering over two notes, while both sax and violin roam peacefully within. The trio leave the stage after breaking the song down to its most timeless elements, leaving us as satisfied and fuzzy as it's possible to be. And maybe a little smug that no-one else thought to turn out to this amazing gig.