By the third go around the drummer (Sam Wilson) is playing the glockenspiel. A nice string accompaniment from the cello (Maddie Cutter), bass notes on the sousaphone (Tom Kelly) and even backing vocals from everyone. It opens with a quiet guitar and electronic drum. Actually, that’s not fair, they are just so different from the noise of the other two songs that it feels very faint in comparison. Her vocals aren’t great (“hard when you’ve got the voice of a five-year old boy”) but the melody she builds around it shows that her voice is just one more instrument (albeit saying interesting words). And much of the repetitive melody is keyboard-and-guitar-driven that morphs and erupt with earth-shaking fervor. It’s all rhythmically propelled by an astonishing drummer and Meredith pounding a pair of floor toms. The instrumentation is unusual, with pulsing bass sounds produced by a wonderful combination of cello, tuba and electronics. Out of nearly 700 performances at the Tiny Desk, this is simply the most exhilarating one I’ve experienced.
MIDDLE A STRING FOR LYON AND HEALY HARP TROUBADOUR III FULL
Lest you worry that she couldn’t translate it to the Tiny Desk (she says they normally have 23 suitcases full of crap so this has been an exciting challenge to squeeze in here) … But if you know and love the music of Philip Glass, King Crimson or Steve Reich - music that’s electrifying, challenging and sonically soars and ripples through your body - then crank this up. Now, I know this isn’t music for everyone. If music could levitate my body, this is how it would sound. The music I heard sent me into a state of reverie. It was one of the best concerts of my life. I first saw this British composer a year ago, in a stunning performance at the SXSW musical festival. Two of the three songs performed here come from her 2016 release called Varmints.īob Boilen was also impressed when he first saw Anna Meredith live: But it all works amazingly.Īnna Meredith was a former BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Composer in Residence. The sousaphone (which must have an echo on it or something and the cello pick up the low menace and it seems like everybody is doing his and her own thing. The guitar begins soloing and as it fades out that main riff begins, now with a simple drum beat–not matching what anyone else is playing, mind you. And then 3 anda half minutes in he wakes up and starts playing a loud but slow rhythm. Meanwhile, the drummer has looked like he’s asleep behind his small kit. While everyone plays this riff, Anna returns to the keys to play the modified scale. And it continues on in like fashion until only the high notes remain and then a menacing low riff on sousaphone cello and guitar breaks through–a great villain soundtrack if ever there was. The cello plays it, the guitar plays it, the sousaphone (!) plays it. And then the melody progresses up a scale, but not a scale, a kind of modified scale that seems off kilter just as it seems familiar.
It opens with an echoed horn sound repeating. The melody for “Nautilus” is just so unexpected. From sound to melody, to intensity, to instrumentation, this whole thing just rocked my world. SOUNDTRACK: ANNA MEREDITH-Tiny Desk Concert #713 (March 2, 2018).
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