PROG THE FOREST
VENUE THE FIDDLER’S ELBOW, CHALK FARM, LONDON DATE 05/12/2021
Opening this second live event raising money for the World Land Trust to protect areas of rainforest, The Ruby Dawn’s Carola Baer warms up the expectant prog faithful with her warm, rich voice, slowburn intensity and atmospheric, keyboard based tunes. Sometimes yearning like Break Down, sometimes diffident like parts of Solemn Cattle, she exercises her ability to inject a very pleasing Joplin-esque edge to her vocal, evident especially in Touch Down.
Dedicating their set to the memory of
David Longdon and kicking off with the entirely fitting Fading Star, Warmrain embark on a collection of their modern and considered rock. Keep Going features a great drum part (given an extended showcase while mainman Leon Russell hunts down his capo) and a bubbling bass line combination which becomes quite hypnotic at times. There’s a Floydian quality to the undeniably affecting and powerful closer Absent Friends with guitarist Matthew Lerwill delivering one of many emotive and characterful solos.
The award for Revelation Of The Day for many here must go to Jo Quail. Performing solo, equipped with some effects, a loop station and an electric cello that looks part bespoke Scandinavian furniture and part ceremonial Klingon battle club, she delivers astounding, multi-layered, spell-binding and truly beautiful compositions. She wrings sounds out of her
instrument that seem to mimic distant church bells, distorted guitar, the rumble of thunder and even human voices at one point. Rex Infractus, Gold and Mandrel Cantus are mesmerising, sometimes challenging yet wildly intoxicating – performed with total commitment and received in respectful silence from a captivated and appreciative audience.
Whether by accident or design, there’s a marvellous contrast next with young instrumental combo, Codices. Part math-rock, part-experimental, part-jazz with intriguing dollops of funk and R’n’B – Chatbox Dialogue has a killer groove – the band attacks every tune with terrific energy and a palpable joy and excitement. There’s some clever use of odd time signatures and noisy riffing with …No One Else Will drifting quite close to the bigger section of Rush’s Cygnus X-1 at times. Codices are tight as anything and having such a good time!
An undoubted coup for the promoters, British guitar maestro John Etheridge is up next. Whether extemporising and soloing over themes from Hendrix’s Little Wing or backing vocalist and collaborator Vimala
Rowe in poignant blues-jazz numbers such as Blue Breeze his playing is never less than enthralling while being simultaneously absolutely appropriate. Rowe’s bravura performance has her voice communicating passion and yearning in Rock Me (In The Cradle Of Love) and loss, dislocation and hope in a none-more-prog interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer sung in Aramaic. An encore is only denied; they’ve got another gig to get to.
Showcasing tracks from their next album like the angular, bass-propelled Silence Is A Statement and the neo-prog leaning The Confidence Trick, the regular Hat’s Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate live duo are joined by flautist Kathryn Thomas, who adds a lightness and extra dimension to songs like Nostalgia For Infinity. As usual, bassist Mark Gatland looks like he’s having a whale of a time and their varied and thoughtful tunes touch many here.
Increasing the day’s unashamed symphonic rock quotient by some margin are The Far Meadow. With their long-form compositions drawing on wide-ranging influences including the Canterbury scene, folk, jazz and Latin, they cover plenty of ground within glorious tunes like opener Travelogue and inject a lengthy keyboard breakdown in 5/4 into the epic Himalaya Flashmob. Reminiscent at times of both Genesis and Magenta, these are serious, seasoned players who encapsulate the thread of diversity that seems to run throughout today’s event perfectly.