Review of Collectress at the Blind Tiger Club, Brighton , .
Introduced by tonight’s MC “the Lady of the Manor” ~ an 18th century female fop (a foppess?) in period costume ~ seemingly on the run from a luckless production of Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” ~ imploring us to follow her around the club as she drops her lace handkerchief at will ~ for us to return ~ a romantic gesture, m’lady ~ chivalry may not be dead at the Blind Tiger, but I somehow managed to restrain myself…
Collectress take the stage ~ a ’cello motif ~ plaintive flutes and carillons à musique keyboards ~ wheels start spinning ~ castle wheels and chronograph watches (collective cartwheels) ~ and we’re off on the backwards journey ~ thru’ a phantasmagoria, a somnambulist trance of our own making ~ painted backdrops and stereoscopic images ~ where is this strange, yet beguiling, music taking us? Are we all on the same journey? Am I sharing a carriage with the Lady of the Manor?
A first meditative piece ~ played to precision ~ sharp intakes of breath and audible murmurs of aural pleasure from the denizens of the DJ booth ~ spells are being cast ~ men and women are speaking in tongues ~ sailors are being lured to acoustic rocks ~ a recurring film loop flickers ~ sleeplessness ~ sea mists and miasmas rise and are casting dark shadows upon the land, rolling over the god-fearing earth, intoning lost poems of John Clare…
A second piece ~ rendered over an electronic heartbeat, a sonic boom, measured to perfection ~ a medieval Mummers play ~ a dream ~ a reverie ~ the twenty-nine missing b&w episodes of “Tales of Mystery” (with John Laurie as Algernon Blackwood) ~ other pieces ensue ~ objects and shadows ~ avant-scapes and avalanches ~ sepia negatives ~ transparencies ~ we can hear a pin drop ~ or a rusty fire door open ~ then Alice Eldridge’s cupped hands & nocturnal whistling heralds the spectral enchantment of “Owl”(a lovely piece) ~ followed by a jaunty sea-shanty and that charming, if impenetrable, parlour game (charade sans instruments de musique) of “Rolling”…
An unexpected sheet of bright yellow flame suddenly flares up behind the players ~ and, as one, we all awake from our self-induced hypnosis ~ Caroline Weeks sings a bittersweet “Goodbye” song ~ followed by a final Collectress piece “Before and After” ~ a mesmerising performance all round ~ Alice, Caroline, the imposter Quinta (providing shimmering violin textures while the real Quinta is away with the fairies and Paper Cinema) and Rebecca ~ and, if that wasn’t enough ~ their debut album “Mondegreen” is due for release in March 2014 ~ so, yeah, that’s my Christmas present sorted.