Music / jazz rock
Review Waldo’s Gift/t l k, Trinity
Lockdown, it seems, affected different musicians in very different ways. Self-proclaimed ‘melantronic’ singer/composer/producer Tara Lily Klein, aka t l k, clearly retreated deeper into her ‘introverted moments’ to produce a brace of atmospheric reflective singles. Improv trio Waldo’s Gift, by contrast, seem to have spent eighteen months hurling themselves at the bars of restriction, their unadulterated fury hinted at in 2020’s The Hut and more fully unleashed in soon-to-be-released EP Normflakes. The result is a whole new performance approach that mashes noughties Nordic metal with left field Rage Against The Machine into what’s intended to be ‘face-melting riffs’. Unsurprisingly these differences made for a yin/yang gig of two distinct halves.
t l k (left) with James Storm Otieno (bass) and Liam Twohig (drums)
Maybe it was in deference to the imposing Gothic windows of Trinity’s Fyfe Hall that t l k and her two supporting musicians seemed to be dressed for a church choir, and there certainly was a well-behaved moderation to their performance. Her music has patient economy, eschewing unnecessary complication in favour of skeletal minimalism at times, the vocals sparingly applied as the mood is sketched into shape. The versatile James Storm Otieno seemed to catch the ecclesiastical atmosphere with a thoughtful solo sax intro to Frame of Ted. His elegantly woven echoing melody hinted at Jan Garbarek’s famous church-based recordings until the cascades of harmonised delays built their own sonic architecture. Over that rich sound the delicate strength and clarity of t l k’s vocals claimed an unforced reserve and assertion, even when ponderous electronic bass suddenly dropped the song into a different place. Throughout, Liam Twohig’s well judged drumming was spare and insistent by turns.
Waldo’s Gift: Alun Elliot-Williams (guitar), Harry Stoneham (bass), James Vine (drums)
The t l k set quickly established an intimacy with an attentive audience who seemed ready to share those introverted spaces and appreciated the music respectfully, as was appropriate. That even-tempered mood was quickly demolished by Waldo’s Gift, appearing in a haze of red light and clouds of demonic smoke with a thrash of heavy riffs worthy of a Scandinavian death metal outfit, leading to immediate vigorous head-nodding and even the beginning of dancing in the crowd. It felt very different to their pre-pandemic Gallimaufry improv sessions, and indeed to their 2020 appearance in Trinity’s garden venue. These numbers had beginnings, ends, melodic themes and pre-arranged changes while the tunes had orchestrated dynamics with sudden drops and shifts well prepared. The sense of difference was amplified by drummer James Vine’s insistent evocation of ‘Bristol’ in his profanity-drenched chat between numbers, more suggestive of a visiting band weathering a European tour than a trio playing in their longtime ‘hood.
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But there was no denying that it worked, and if people had arrived expecting evolutionary improvisations they seemed very satisfied by the relentless thrash-outs. So satisfied, indeed, that James was able to demand (and get) a bona fide mosh pit going by the end. The EP title track Normflakes – “It’s f***ing heavy, Bristol!” – morphed from Alun Elliot-Williams’ granite-hewn tight-arsed guitar loop into something akin to stadium rock power chords that ultimately deconstructed into a hip-hop dialogue between drummer James and Harry Stoneham’s indefatigable bass. The jaunty B52-style drums of The Berlin Tuck mocked its doom-laden bass line, giving Alun’s nimbly scrabbling guitar the space to soar as the groove slipped into drum and bass territory and slamming staccato chords en-Raged the seething dancers. It was the right way to end things, abruptly and on their own terms.
It will be interesting to see how this much more festival-stage friendly act develops, and whether they maintain the freeness of their Gallimaufry workouts alongside. What’s not in doubt is their musicianship and the capacity to match the speed of their fingers to the speed of their thoughts and if this musical rebranding gets them a much wider appreciative audience then it will surely be worth it.
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