After becoming utterly entranced by the CD release of Northern Flyway, reviewed earlier this month, it was abundantly clear that the full live production the CD was based on was going to be something special. As the audience at Stirling’s Tolbooth Theatre discovered on Wednesday evening, as a live performance, this multi-dimensional exploration of birdsong, ecology, and folklore casts an even stronger spell.
Northern Flyway is a remarkable live audio/visual project conceived and performed by Inge Thomson and Jenny Sturgeon. Featuring field recordings by Magnus Robb of Sound Approach, singer/multi-instrumentalist Sarah Hayes and vocal sculptor/beatboxer Jason Singh, the show premiered to a sold-out audience at The Barn (Banchory) in January 2018 and a CD of the songs was recorded at Mareel, Shetland, over four days in early February 2018.
As Northern Flyway opens to the sound, and sight, of geese in flight, even the stage layout is fascinating. Simon Gane‘s set design has the performers enclosed between three large projection screens to the rear, and smaller, wave-like structures at their feet. In among Jason’s remarkable sonic sculptures, comprising of field recordings, vocal beats and electronic effects; Inge, Jenny and Sarah pay homage to the avian world in song and music. Inge’s accordion provides everything from long, hypnotic bass notes, to light melody and even snatches of birdsong; Jenny’s dulcimer and shruti box hint at distant shores; Sarah’s flutes and keyboards bring essential and evocative melody.
The vocal skills that all three bring to the performance are dazzling. There are three part harmonies that make your skin tingle, as in No Barriers, No Borders and the hypnotic Lost Lapwing; and there are memorable individual performances – Inge’s plaintive, chimerical geese in Loch Carron Flame; Jenny’s diddly ode to Puffins and her beautiful reworking of Sweet Afton; Sarah’s soulful Curlew love song and exultant chants in We Are The Morning. Jason’s vocal skills definitely fall into a different category, but emphatically find their place in the wider production, with a riveting solo performance to open the second act, and perfectly pitched sound effects for visuals of a swooping, palpitating starling murmuration.
There are times when the snatches of interviews heard on the album, where people share their delight in all things ornithological, are given more space than on the CD, and times when the balance is shifted back towards the more abstract sonic structures. Every sound counts, though, from the heartbeat of Inge’s kick-drum to Magnus Robb’s bird samples, and the ascending complexity of Sarah’s flute solos.
John Wilkie‘s projection mapping is a perfect partner to the music, and just as compelling; taking us panning and zooming through city-scapes, soaring over gannet-covered cliff sides, or even through sonograms of birdsong. Every detail, in fact, is part of the concept – right down to the stage-wear created by Shetland textile artist Neila Nell, incorporating those same sonograms.
From the mesmeric opening heartbeat of Flyway, to the excitement of the closing flute duet in Huggin and Muninn, Northern Flyway‘s combination of sound and vision, fact and folklore, is a remarkable, unique and fascinating live experience.
RE-ORDER NORTHERN FLYWAY NOW – https://lnk.to/
https://www.facebook.com/northernflyway