Theaterhaus, Stuttgart, Germany24th March 2007
Kristin Hersh, The McCarricks
The Theaterhaus in Stuttgart is a rather new location (in 2003 the Theaterhausverein Stuttgart took it on) featuring various artists and performances, from theatre to cabaret and concerts, mainly of local or alternative bands. The building is very modern, but with a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, and the hall this night's concert was going to take place in, possesses a very steep auditorium - so a fantastic view on the stage was guaranteed even from the last tier. Under those good conditions I was looking forward to experiencing KRISTIN HERSH and her band - a singer who has been in the business for quite a long time now and is probably first acquainted with her long-term band, the THROWING MUSES, who could celebrate some successes in the early nineties and have not split up to the present day, though the members are at the moment all concentrating on their own projects. Hersh is currently involved with her new band; a Hardcore-Punk influenced project called 50 FOOT WAVE, and is also working on solo stuff. But this evening the first ones on stage were THE McCARRICKS from Great Britain with their headstrong, calm show. http://www.theaterhaus.com
The duo from London, Great Britain, has met in the rock venue The Bottleneck in Kansas, United States, in 1996; at that time Kimberlee was a professional violinist at the Kansas Symphony Orchestra and Martin McCarrick was touring as a guitarist and electric cellist with THERAPY?. At first, the idea behind them working together as THE McCARRICKS was to create new, modern and dynamic soundtracks to ancient silent movies and to show these films at their concerts in combination with their music. But restrictive laws concerning film usage let them cease from doing so, and now they are working together with innovative, independent film makers, who deliver them short movies especially tailored to match their sound. Beside their project THE McCARRICKS, the two musicians are currently working as composers, instrumentalists and string arrangers, covering a huge from classical music to Rock and Industrial. The duo has no label yet, but on their shows it is possible to buy some self-produced stuff. http://www.houseofmccarrick.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/themccarricksmusic
Music
"...dark, evocative, compelling, hypnotic, unsettling.... yet strangely beautiful, drawing influences from Shostakovich to the Aphex Twin via Bernard Herrmann." A violin and a cello - you don't need much more to make unique music. Kimberlee (violin) and Martin McCarrick (cello) are performing with virtuosity; and they combine the fragile sounds from their stringed instruments with modern electronic tunes, also composed and arranged by themselves, and a series of videos by different film makers, especially created to match the duo's sound. Altogether these things yield a rounded overall picture. There were moments dreamy and serene, and the sounds of the instruments were dripping into the quiet hall like raindrops into a still lake. And then again they were becoming stronger, culminating into a strange, sometimes disturbing chaos, but never loosing its beauty and always enthralling.
Performance
There wasn't much of a performance to be seen on stage during THE MCCARRICKS' set. Kimberlee and Martin were sitting opposite to each other in front of the audience, the violinist to the left with her instrument and Martin on the right with his cello, and between them a projection screen had been built up. The stage was beautifully lit up by mainly two spotlights, one on each of the two musicians, which created an extraordinary atmosphere. On the screen, THE MCCARRICKS had their short video artworks projected, each one going with one song. There were drawn figures to be seen, a contorsionist couple showing its impressive performance, and also some strange, a little disturbing, but quite interesting stuff that cannot easily be described in words, but very well fitted their music.
Setlist
01. Genetically Modified
02. Tango Money
03. In The Key Of Three
04. Seven Shades
05. Letter From Nagoya
06. Bend
07. Canary Warp
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 9
Light: 5
Total: 7.4
KRISTIN HERSH
The American singer/songwriter KRISTIN HERSH from Newport/Rhode Island began to play the guitar at the age of nine and soon afterwards she started writing songs. As a teenager she formed the alternative Rock band THROWING MUSES together with her stepsister Tanya Donelly in the early 1980s. They got signed by 4AD Records and Sire/Reprise (second album) and could denote first successes. In 1994, Hersh released her first solo work, ‘Hips and Makers’ (Sire/Reprise), featuring R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. The following years saw different other publications, like the albums ‘University’ and ‘Limbo’ with the THROWING MUSES, but also more solo stuff. On her solo albums she often plays all the instruments herself. Since 2003, she also leads the Power Rock trio 50 FOOT WAVE. In January 2007, her latest solo release ‘Learn to sing like a Star’ appeared. http://www.myspace.com/kristinhersh / http://www.throwingmusic.com/
Music
KRISTIN HERSH's music can be best described as songwriter Pop/Rock. Her sometimes calm, very melodic, and sometimes rather energetic, angry songs surely aren't bad, but - apart from a few beautiful moments making me listen up - they did not really catch my ear. Hersh's voice was very clear and special, and I liked it, in particular its ability to change from soft and gentle tones to a more aggressive and harsh singing. The vocals were on stage accompanied by an electric or acoustic guitar played by Hersh herself, and additionally there was a bass and drums. And also THE MCCARRICKS had joined her, completing the little orchestra around the singer with a violin and a cello.
Performance
There are for sure concerts with more action going on on stage. The one on this evening absolutely concentrated on the music and Hersh's vocals, with no distractions. She stood in front of the audience in the middle of the stage, surrounded by the other musicians, who were grouped to a half circle. Also during her performance, the light show was very nice and plunged the stage into various colours. Hersh talked to the audience from time to time, giving some explanations concerning the songs and their history; the visitors themselves were quite reluctant, but nevertheless they seemed to enjoy the show.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 5
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 5.8
All pictures by Ruth Gräbeldinger
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