John Shand Posts

February 22, 2018 / Album Reviews - Archive

GREY SKY (Orenda) 8/10 This morning a dreamed I was awake, only to awaken later and realise I’d been asleep. This music is the soundtrack to such disorientation. It delights in blurring lines between the conscious and subconscious; in gently bearing us off on oneiric journeys past half-heard sounds towards…

February 19, 2018 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

 Belvoir St, January 27. 8/10 As much as any words it is the verbs and adjectives of her body: the coiling fingers and restless toes, the aimless arcs described by hands, the twitches and spasms, the shrugs and shuffling. As well as being very finely observed, these are all so…

February 17, 2018 / Album Reviews - Archive

HEARING THE BLOOD (Extra Celestial) 9/10 As an improvising pianist Barney McAll has long been a master of the fine art of fulfilling and subverting expectations. This album shows that same mastery as a composer. Hearing the Blood contains not just his finest batch of compositions to date, but his…