Union Chapel, Islington
Laura J. Martin (vocals, flute, mandolin, piano); David Levin (percussion on Jesse);
Salamander
Fire Horse
Jesse (with David Levin)
Doki Doki
Tom
- questionable
Red haired elf with plenty of stamina and a very unorthodox approach to live performance. The music itself is pretty experimental, hard to describe, with its roots fading into folk, hip hop, jazz and far eastern sonorities.
Despite the prolonged technical struggle that marked the beginning of the set, Laura J. Martin was in a transmissible well-spirited shape. I personally loved the narrative quality of the songs and the flamboyant gestures calling to mind the image of another exquisite flute-wielder, Ian Anderson.
The looping and sampling techniques were mastered gracefully; Laura producing single-handedly a very rich sound, without gratuitously abusing the technology; her posture pressing the floor pedals reminding me of Adrian Belew and his confidence in exploiting his sound processing machinery.
Quirky! (good quirky!)
