Friday, 16 September 2011

Laura J. Martin

Union Chapel, Islington







Laura J. Martin (vocals, flute, mandolin, piano); David Levin (percussion on Jesse); 

Salamander
Fire Horse
Jesse (with David Levin)
Doki Doki
Tom
- questionable

Red haired elf with plenty of stamina and a very unorthodox approach to live performance. The music itself is pretty experimental, hard to describe, with its roots fading into folk, hip hop, jazz and far eastern sonorities.

Despite the prolonged technical struggle that marked the beginning of the set, Laura J. Martin was in a transmissible well-spirited shape. I personally loved the narrative quality of the songs and the flamboyant gestures calling to mind the image of another exquisite flute-wielder, Ian Anderson.

The looping and sampling techniques were mastered gracefully; Laura producing single-handedly a very rich sound, without gratuitously abusing the technology; her posture pressing the floor pedals reminding me of Adrian Belew and his confidence in exploiting his sound processing machinery.

Quirky! (good quirky!)

1 comment:

Dr Fizzy said...

We saw this show in the lovely setting of the Union Chapel and were captivated by the enchanting musical world of Laura J Martin and felt she fully earned the enthusiastic audience reception she received. The combination of her delightful Liverpool personality and energy and the musical talent as she wove her way through her stories in song, flute, mandolin, piano was not only charming but highly original and truly creative art.