Review: Bristol New Music – Opening Night, The Mount Without/Lantern

Queuing outside The Mount Without for The Ringing World several people admitted to me that they hadn’t any idea what was going to happen but they’d bought a ticket, whatever. That open-minded approach to music and performance is probably the healthiest way to approach the Bristol New Music Festival’s 2024 weekend – expect the unexpected and you’ll still be surprised.

Bristol New Music Festival – Sarahsson/Impermanence (pic: Tony Benjamin)

The Ringing World was the weekend’s opening show, a specially commissioned collaboration between performance artist Sarahsson, contemporary dance group Impermanence and The Mount Without itself. It proved to be obscure in the literal sense, a darkened performance space bemisted with dry ice smoke and punctuated by a variety of lighting effects. Sarahsson, herself barely visible in the gloom, delivered a poetic monologue referencing the building’s history and, especially, its bells, while two solo dancers appeared and disappeared. Sarahsson’s rich romantic piano overlaid an expressive electronic soundscaping that evolved from ethereal keenings to savage crashings and roars: at one point we were in the blitz of a bombing raid and the building actually shook to grinding sub-bass smashes. It was a truly immersive moment consolidating the effective use of words, sound and light to contextualise the place we were in, albeit it made re-emerging into daylight somewhat disorientating.

Bristol New Music Festival – Elaine Mitchener and Neil Charles (pic: Tony Benjamin)

Moving on down to The Lantern we experienced another musical world entirely but one that would prove just as engrossing. Performance vocalist Elaine Mitchener began with a tirade of awkward squeaks, rasps and strangled noises as if she was trying to give birth to her own voice, wrenching it from her gut. Different characters emerged, still non-verbal, and Neil Charles began echoing them in his bass accompaniment. When words finally began to emerge they slipped in and out of focus, glimpses of a lyric that would eventually clarify. It was a superbly controlled introduction to her impassioned and artful way of working which continued through a cautionary diatribe about capitalist imperialism, an explanatory lecture about black feminism and a cryptic song that may have been about drums. Charles’ gave a definitive supporting performance, buttressing the rhythms and tone without ever diverting from the vocalist, riffing at times or caterwauling when necessary.

Bristol New Music Festival – Jules Reidy (pic: Tony Benjamin)

If Elaine Mitchener seemed unbounded in her self-expression then solo guitarist Jules Reidy gave the opposite impression. Impassively controlled behind a complex of electronica she appeared self-absorbed and almost oblivious to an audience. Using the guitar as both a sound source and an instrument she constructed slowly accreting sound sheets and turbulent complexities of loops and layers. It was a meditative process that had something of a morning raga about its hypnotic minimalism. Now and again there were snatches of vocals, autotuned and almost inaudible, but the main narrative was always the sonic evolution running through the entire performance.

Bristol New Music Festival – Lonnie Holley and band (pic: Tony Benjamin)

After that aesthetically buttoned-down experience headliner Lonnie Holley burst into action from the get-go, his impassioned gospel-style vocal poetry underpinned by sketchy keyboards, desert guitar twangs and a call-and-response bass trombone. There was an immediate sense of power and passion in his delivery, bringing him to his feet at times, prowling the stage before returning to his pulpit behind the keyboard. As with Elaine Mitchener here was an artist who could trust their judgement to let themselves just be and to reflect that in the music they make. It was an infectious thing that energised the Lantern’s audience like a brimstone Baptist at a Southern tent meeting yet remianed rooted in Holley’s homespun wisdom rather than hellfire religion.

All in all it added up to a fine and varied evening of unusual and impressive musical performances that heralded good things for the weekend of unexpectedness still to come.

Bristol New Music Festival 2024 continues from Fri 26 – Sun 28 at various venues.