Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner LIVE
I liked it when Sufjan Stevens was unclassifiable. It meant that the question, ‘What kind of music is it?’ could be accurately and casually brushed off with a simple, ‘I dunno, just listen to it.’ But then. Then I stumbled upon an ugly, uncomfortable phrase, which really irritatingly encapsulates the ambiguous sound of both Sufjan’s most recent album, as well as his current collaboration with multi-talented composer Nico Muhly and The National’s industrious guitarist, Bryce Dessner.
(I’m now more aware than ever that the phrase ‘instrumental post-rock music’ cannot be used in pub conversation without the word ‘douchebag’ being thrown out shortly afterwards. Damn you internet.)
The Stevens, Muhly and Dessner collaboration is a sort of rock-classical hybrid, which does everything it can to evade classification, whilst still falling firmly into fans’ expectations. On 9th April, this ‘work in progress’ was brought to London’s Barbican.
Musical endeavours that come from concepts will probably always be treated with trepidation from the general public. But from the experimentally ambitious Sufjan Stevens and serial collaborator Bryce Dessner- who are no strangers to pushing the boundaries of their indie rock backgrounds- this enterprise with the highly-regarded Nico Muhly came as little surprise. The concept for ‘Planetarium’, is simple enough: a song cycle which takes us through each of the planets of our solar system in turn. Before the show, the short synopsis on the Barbican website promised: ‘an exceptional collaboration, from perhaps the three most defining creative minds from today’s New York’s inspirational music scene.., with seven trombones and a ‘beguiling’ string quartet.’
Excellent.
Sitting in the Barbican Concert Hall, sipping my chardonnay and commenting on the stingy amount of cheese in my friend’s £4.50 sandwich, I could not have felt more middle class.
Perhaps intentionally, the first half of the show had the air of a warm-up act for the main event. This being said, no credit should be taken away from the extraordinary precision of the Navarra String Quartet. It was just unfortunate that Dessner’s electric guitar additions often sounded awkward, as he seemed unable to escape the resonating twang of The National’s rock concert sound and continually fell short of the precise unity of the String Quartet. Pleasant as Stevens’ piece at the end of the set was, this wasn’t really what anyone had come to see. I found myself slowly drifting off with its comfortable predictability.
The second half started. And, unsurprisingly for me (not being familiar with Nico Muhly and knowing Bryce Dessner primarily as ‘the guitarist guy from The National’), Sufjan stole the show. Fans of Illinois might be disheartened by the distance between Sufjan’s previous whisperings about sleeping in parking lots and the now hollering vocals of the solar system. But, as he pointed out before a somewhat disturbing explosion of noise that was Mars, ‘the solar system is full of fire and gas and darkness’, and sadly, not many swans.
The tracks were unquestionably messy. But the point that kept being reiterated was that it was a work in progress. In a similar vein to The Age of Adz, we saw Sufjan’s (unhealthy?) obsession with the vocoder (I don’t like it, please stop.), as well as his preoccupation with the actual sounds of the words, rather than their meanings. Indeed, there were various points in the night at which I thought he was going to break into a cry of “Vesuuuvius”, complete with some of last year’s questionable dance moves. They were, sadly, absent. In fact, the only stage setting was a bizarre elliptical balloon hanging from the back of the stage, adding to the feeling that this was more of a privileged insight into their practice room, rather than a concert.
Muhly was sat to the left of the stage between a piano and another instrument, which I only managed to identify when he requested “more celesta!” half-way through. I still don’t really know what a celesta is, but it seemed to work. Throughout the performance his film score background was extremely obvious. As I listened, I remembered a friend pointing out how much of the music I listen to sounds like it could be on an advert. Maybe these three might object to being Christmas 2012’s Sound of John Lewis (and ‘Planetarium’ couldn’t really be described in the same easy-listening terms as Slow Moving Millie), but the intense atmosphere created at the high points of the concert would certainly be enough to move me to buy an overpriced stainless steel toaster.
Finally, there’s not much that I can say about Dessner on the night. In fact, it’s excruciatingly apt that my dad kept referring to him as ‘Bruce’ throughout. (And unfortunately not because of any Springsteen allusions.) On reflection, the image of him that sticks with me is the shadow of his swaying figure on the left-hand wall… I’m not completely criticising the addition of the guitar in this instance though. In actuality, it was something of a blessing when Dessner’s sound finally came alive in the most-polished sounding Pluto, which turned out to be one of my favourite pieces of the night.
The track that I’d recommend listening to is the performance’s finale, Mercury, which exhibited some particularly mesmerising vocals from Sufjan. With some fantastic sections from the New Trombone Collective, it certainly provided a triumphant end after something of a turbulent evening. Leaving the Barbican, I can’t say that I was overwhelmed by the performance itself, but definitely impressed by the musical calibre of all three artists. ‘Planetarium’ had all the ambition and intention of taking us to the stars. It’s just a shame that they’re still stuck in the testing stages.
P.s. I feel like I’ve been far too harsh to Dessner so, out of fairness, I’m going to plug the charity compilation CD that he produced with his brother, Dark Was the Night. It actually is really good!
Comments (15)
I love the cover, and I’m so happy for you! I only started e-reading so for a second I considered getting a digital copy. Then, I realized you wouldn’t be able to sign it, so I’m definitely getting a paperback copy. You’ve worked so hard to get here, and I’m thrilled for you!
Thanks for the comment. I’ve often thought that if the right is serious about cuts, then ALL cuts out to be on the table (including the military). If our national economy is like a household economy writ large, why not consider selling guns and butter?
Take it one day at a time Ansley, just think how great you will feel when you are at your ideal body weight!!! Hang in there you are doing so well!
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Sam, I saw the final String Theory Festival concert last night, fienuratg the group Victoire (Missy Mazzoli’s all-gal band) and JACK quartet. It was such a great concert! I also met Judd Greenstein and was able to tell him I’m commissioning his work. What an action packed night it was. JACK Quartet gave one of the more inspired and thrilling performances I have been to in a while they are terrific. I loved being in the audience and listening to music I had never heard before, and I found myself thanking the heavens above that art and thrilling live music thrive despite the non-stop barrage of negative news we face as performers and artists nowadays. It renewed my faith in the power of music-making from the good ol’ sheer pleasure of being in an attentive audience at a small venue, hearing expertly performed chamber music up close. Wish our work schedule had permitted another STF event or two what a cool festival!