John Shand Posts

May 1, 2025 / Album Reviews

Ghosts between Streams (Earshift) 8.5/10 As the title might suggest, Tom Avgenicos’ Ghosts Between Streams suite is a dialogue. Most baldly, one side of that dialogue is an improvising quartet and the other a string quartet. More profoundly, one side constitutes a modern pastorale, evoking nature rather than rurality, and…

April 22, 2025 / Features

Many recording artists release a second album, but few do it at 97. For Noel Balfour, his love of music keeps him going. Well, not just going: he looks 25 years younger than his age when we meet at Andy Busuttil’s Hazelbrook studio, Blue Mountains Sound, where Balfour has just…

April 21, 2025 / Uncategorized

Belvoir St Theatre, April 9 6.5/10 I’m sure Megan Wilding doesn’t mean to steal scenes, but her physical acting, timing and control of her vocal pitch are so complete that she’s a magnet for the eyes and ears. Even with very fine actors, you sometimes see the craft underpinning their…