The Kept Impulses Tour, Bristol

You’d be hard pressed to find a more well-suited venue for the Kept Impulses Bristol show than St. George’s. Simultaneously grand and understated, and possessed of fantastic natural acoustics, its surrounds perfectly mirror and enhance the music echoing through the hall this evening. The three musicians collaborating are all known for fully exploring the possibilities of acoustic instrumentation, each with a unique vision but sharing a common sense of space and freedom. So although they may not initially seem the closest bedfellows, James Blackshaw’s dense clouds of twelve-string guitar tone and Nancy Elizabeth’s hushed folk forms complement one another surprisingly well, while Hauschka’s dual purpose piano – responsible for both melody and percussion – provides a sinuous rhythmic backdrop.

Two of Blackshaw’s own pieces open the first half of the show, and as they progress each sinks into what could only be described as a whirlpool of sound. His use of a twelve-string acoustic guitar creates a resonance far beyond the possibilities of a six-stringer, and as open tunings allow earthy drones to fill the lower end, his folksy melodies gradually sink beneath a thick broth of harmonic overtones. It’s heady and hypnotic stuff - as mystical as it’s possible to be when you’re from Kent, I suppose - though a slow and unassuming start. Alongside Elizabeth’s first song they open proceedings on a curiously muted note, perhaps due to nerves or simply a neat trick of structuring: by the time Hauschka begins a teasing out brittle bottletop rhythm to accompany the stomp-clack motion of her own ‘Feet Of Courage’ such concerns are banished.

The show’s second half proves infinitely more rewarding, and far more cleverly integrated. A trio of Hauschka’s own compositions appear early; wonderful, melancholy things that touch on minimalism without ever reaching cool austerity. All are self-accompanied by all sorts of strange insectoid clicks and muted thuds, thanks to his piano preparations – gaffa tape, bottletops and coffee tins amongst other odds and ends litter its strings. He’s nothing if not a showman, in an eccentric and slightly cheeky way, as his final piece sees him fill the house grand piano with a huge bag of ping-pong balls. The result is to generate a thick soupy haze of fuzz around its soft melody, drawing an immediate parallel with Blackshaw’s similar attitude towards the guitar.

The finale and encore draws all three’s music further together, the main set ending on a gorgeous collaborative piece named ‘A Thousand Angels’ that shifts from jaunty continental shuffle to heavy folk strum. One re-emergence later all three play the single piano simultaneously, Elizabeth with drumsticks, Hauschka with his army of noisemakers and Blackshaw teasing out a delicately pivoting high theme. It ends too soon, and everything feels slightly grey for a while afterward.

Words: Rory Gibb