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Woolf
Music
August
2013
Well,
it
seemed like it was never going to arrive but, all of
a sudden, here it was. Woolf Music might not have
been so much Terrastock as Tinystock but had many of
the essential ingredients of a classic festival. Let
me see there was the sumptuous setting (Cleeve House
in the heart of Wiltshire), eateries, ales, and an
interesting and eclectic audience surpassed only by
the hand-picked line-up performing alternately and
alternatively in an amply proportioned marquee and
up in the historic house. Oh, and for day one
(Saturday) we were also inundated with some
typically unseasonal festival weather. This
inclemency meant that the less adventurously
inclined (and here I’m guilty as charged) clung to
the marquee area and just occasionally venturing out
for (usually liquid) sustenance and periodic checks
of the lavatory facilities.
There
was
nothing unadventurous about the entertainment
though. The marquee line-up on day one featured
mostly free form experimental electronic music and
unleavened drone but occasionally more conventional
fare. Indeed, what a jolt it was to the system The
Left Outsides, performing one of the longer
sets of the weekend, proved to be. I mean melodies
and song structures?! Who let these weirdoes in? In
truth they were a highlight among many notable
turns, which included a frustratingly short set by
the wonderful Thought
Forms and one of the revelations of the
weekend, Bear
Bones,
Lay Low (Ernesto Gonzales from Belgium via
Venezuela). Like many acts who either spent time
bent over tables strewn with boxes and wires or else
sat on the floor manipulating various gadgetry (in
this case the latter) Ernesto was not the most
visual of acts and would have been well served by an
eye-catching backdrop. More optically stimulating
was the much-anticipated Black
Tempest but alas their sound suffered somewhat
from a rather rushed set-up which was the result of
trying to keep the programme on schedule.
Terrascopic darlings United
Bible Studies closed proceedings in the
marquee in ebullient and entertaining style at which
point, thankful for the fact that we’d now seen the
last of the rain for the weekend, we all decamped to
the house for some well-received readings by Byron
Coley, the organic folk of Sharron Kraus
and Woodpecker Wooliams (how you’d hoped
Joanna Newsom would sound like).
Sunday
dawned
brightly and held its shape throughout. Alternating
more between the house and the marquee – with
occasional forays into the library to see what Koru
Kosmou was up to with his/their bass drones,
backdrops and occasional guest artists were up to -,
special mention must go to Ellen
Mary McGee, Bare
Bones (no relation to Bear Bones, Lay Low), Deej
Deerwal of Thought Forms – a master of
overload and under-length sets it seems – and the
delightful Kull
from London who served a similar purpose to The Left
Outsides on day one in providing a welcome diversion
from Death by Drone (not that too many were
complaining about the latter). The nightly decamp up
to the House following Plinth’s
closing
set in the Marquee was rewarded by sets from the
very fine Bridget
Hayden, guitarist Joshua
Burkett and arguably the big name of the
weekend Josephine
Foster, who trilled sweetly enough although
her cellist affected a look that suggested there was
something deeply unpleasant under her nose (that
would be my trainers then). Her look of mild
disapproval and annoyance at everything around her
was somewhat undone when she started bowing her hair
instead of the cello at one point. What larks, Pip.
And
that
was that. Two days of perfectly convivial
entertainment and company – thanks especially to
Heather, Simon, Cara, Steve and on the occasions
when we got to see him, Genial Mein Host Phil
McMullen and to the many others we met and
enjoyed. Thanks too to Katie and Kim’s Kitchen for
their deliciously sloppy Dahl and no less delicious
but even messier bacon wraps, but most of all to
Phil and Sonic Sanctuary for putting on such
a great little event. I’m already compiling my wants
list for the next time (Phil, are your reading
this?).
Ian
Fraser
The
reader is also politely directed to Sophie Cooper's rather
lovely review of the event, here:
link to SophieCooperMusic.com
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