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Since it's release last autumn, Dustin O'Halloran and Adam Wiltzie's
masterpiece A Winged Victory For The Sullen has rightfully claimed
praise from all quarters, its meditative, almost cinematic character
perfectly suiting the long evenings that followed shortly. Given the warm,
inviting nature of the music off their self-titled debut album, it's fitting
that their London date (in the grandiose setting of Cecil Sharp House)
offers a respite from the bitterly cold climes which have suddenly swept the
capital.
Those arriving early expecting support Sleepingdog to be merely a
variation on A Winged Victory For The Sullen's vast soundscapes were in for
a surprise. While very much another one of Adam Wiltzie's many brainwaves
(and at times using the sweeping sonic swathes that define A Winged Victory
For The Sullen's sound) it's a far more structured, almost pastoral
arrangement that recalls last year's acclaimed Lanterns On The Lake,
or instrumentation that recalls Ballboy at their most beautiful.
Led by the chiming, interweaving guitars of Wiltzie and co-conspirator
Chantal Acda, and then garnished with the latter's mesmerising hushed
vocals, the end result is a multi-layered, haunting vision of nocturnal,
ambient pop music. As an exercise in enchanting the crowd before the main
act, Wiltzie & Co do a spellbinding job.
When it's time for the main act to appear, they take to the stage quietly
and without fanfare. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Coming off the
back of an album that is characterised by a certain dignified majesty if
anything it's entirely befitting. Wiltzie and O'Halloran are backed up with
a three-piece string section throughout the performance, and play the
self-titled debut (advertised tonight as "7 songs about broken hearts and
dead people") in full. From the opening chords of We
Played Some Open Chords And Rejoiced For The Earth Had Circled The Sun For
Yet Another Year it's clear that there's a near perfect synergy between band
and venue, with O'Halloran's delicate piano reverberating around the room,
while the rich string accompaniment is given the space it needs to truly
flourish.
It's a theme that continues throughout the evening, with the
haunting beauty of Requiem For The Static King Part 2 especially providing a
mesmerising and hypnotic highlight as it ebbs and swells to its conclusion.
With the heartbreaking A Symphony Pathetique and the sweeping All Farewells
Are Sudden ending the album, it was left to Wiltzie and O'Halloran to unveil
a joker card (humbly introduced as "something we knocked up in case
something went wrong") - a seemingly untitled piece which, if a precursor to
any further work, demonstrates the possibility of a darker, more dramatic
sound than has been seen in their work so far.
As the crowd filters out, back into the cold of the winter evening, many
still seem entranced by what they've just seen and heard. As well they
might, given the stunning rendition of an already breathtaking piece of
work. Any concerns about how well it would transfer live have been well and
truly banished, and their vision of making a truly great late night record
has been conclusively realised.
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