John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

May 18, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

METTE HENRIETTE (ECM) 8/10 Norwegian saxophonist Mette Henriette may well be a fan of the Necks. The sort of minimalism she espouses on this double album certainly carries overlaps with their particular brand of minimalist sonic necromancy, although the differences are just as significant. Most obviously Henriette eschews long improvisations…

May 15, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

TEMPO (Sofa) 8/10 The concert began at midday and finished after 4pm. Without breaks. In any musical idiom this requires physical and mental resilience, but in free improvisation it demands remarkable creative stamina. Jim Denley (wind instruments), Kim Myhr (12-string guitar, zither) and Ingar Zach (percussion) conserve energy by making…

May 11, 2016 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

The Playhouse, April 29 7.5/10 Five years ago Songs for Nobodies was a near perfect confluence of music, script, performer and director. The same performer (Bernadette Robinson), writer (Joanna Murray-Smith) and director (Simon Phillips) then reunited to exploit Robinson’s gifts as a singer, mimic and actress in Pennsylvania Avenue, now…