Along the Golden Lion’s upstairs corridor, one was met by the sight of Mike Gangloff, apparently queuing to get into his own gig. As it turned out, he’d just been down to the venue’s kitchen, returning his empty supper dishes and was letting the early arrivals enter first. Inside the cosy gig room stood a triangle of gongs, reminding us that Gangloff and his wife Cara once performed with Tatsuya Nakatani’s gong orchestra show. But the famed Japanese percussionist wasn’t doing a support slot, for that honour went to sound artists Sasha Mattock and Mark Williamson. The former used ancient instruments, including a thirty-two-inch symphonic gong; the latter knelt over a laptop, mobile phone and mini synth. Intrigued? So were we.
Williamson’s various gizmos transmitted sweet dawn choruses from his local field recordings. He doubtless knows how much birdsong is screened out by background noises of our own making, a process that one US scientist calls ‘learned deafness’. Other wilderness vibes were mixed in via Williamson’s electronics, a neat paradox implying that once we’re removed from nature by technology, the process is irreversible. Mattock’s three gongs, bearing the vintage Paiste hallmark, produced soft and shimmery tones as she crept among them with mallet and beater. Later her sounds gathered into a heart-warming crescendo, rumbling so deeply inside us that the stimulation of mass gongasms seemed likely. The duo encouraged everyone to use the space comfortably, with some fellas lying flat out and dreamy, their beards bristling like so many Rip Van Winkles. People lounged around in their socks; a babe-in-arms listened attentively in its mother’s embrace. Sonic hugs and handshakes rippled through the room. For thirty minutes, Mark and Sasha turned the Golden Lion’s loft into a Zen-like healing garden. It was also a reminder that we listen to music with our entire bodies, not just our ears.
The drones and sustains from this opening show rather set a guide for what followed. Mike Gangloff’s violin music has helped transform the instrument through his work with Pelt, Black Twig Pickers and many fine collaborations. The space he leaves between phrases, the strung-out single notes and the open tunings have all lent his work an avant edge. Fused with frisky Appalachia and percussed on stage by Gangloff’s boot soles, the live product is playful yet unearthly. He opened with a new tune, written en route to the UK this month and thus entitled April Is Passing. Eerie classical motifs featured on I’m Asking, while the ghostly hoedown New River Suite evoked skeletons dancing by firelight. Both pieces are from Gangloff’s last solo outing, Evening Measures, an immense work that newbies to his output could start with. He stepped into waltz time too, with a Black Twig Pickers piece given a more mystic edge than the courtly album version.
Not even the thud-thud doof-doof drifting up from a downstairs party could disrupt Gangloff’s flow. What’s remarkable is the variety he conjured mostly from first position (near the scroll) in terms of timbres and tunes, his fingers often moving with a blurred ferocity. Finally, he was joined for a rich and rousing encore by visual artist Jake Blanchard on harmonium and Ed Sanders on second violin. Gangloff bowed lightly at the end, thanking us all for the big turnout. “A set of creaky old fiddle tunes ain’t the easiest gig to sell,” he added. The success of his latest touring venture would rather suggest it is.
Many thanks to Nic and Sophie for the images.
Remaining Tour Dates
Mon 22nd May Cambridge: Thrive c/o Crushing Death & Grief
Tues 23rd May London: The Tin Tabernacle
Order Evening Measures here: https://vhfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/evening-measures