Institute of Contemporary Arts

Quiet Nights: Fanfarlo / Serafina Steer / Orphans and Vandals

Date: 25 April 2008

 Jahan Nazeer

Quiet Nights at the ICA has been a real success, tonight was to be the final instalment (for now at least), and boasted as great a line-up as the previous shows. I arrived in good time and, having picked up a drink on the way through, I made my way upstairs to the Nash room. Taking my drink onto one of the balconies, I had a chat with some of the crowd as we all enjoyed the fresh breeze and fantastic view. I have mentioned it in previous blogs, but this balcony view really adds to the evenings proceedings and is worth a look in itself. As the audience gathered and took their positions seated on rugs on the floor, seventies soul gems were played softly through the speakers as we all eased out of work mode and embraced that Friday feeling.

First up tonight, Serafina Steer , the London based singer/songwriter/harpist. Cautiously taking to the stage armed with harp and keyboard, Steer quietly introduced herself and began. The Nash room seemed to be the perfect setting for this act, with its traditional, grand feel. Steer plucking the harp strings with such precise delicacy. Soon the room was filled with rambling melodic backdrops and insightful, ‘train of thought' style lyrics. The harp is not an instrument that one gets to see/hear everyday, tonight it sounded both traditional and contempory, both beautiful and purposeful. Serafina Steer ran through a mesmerizing set that included a few covers along with her own material - notably a Morrissey cover that had apparently been suggested by her brother. Though the highlight of the set for me was the intimate ‘Peach Heart' which is the A side to her debut 7" out now on Static Caravan Records. Check her out for something a bit different.

After a short intermission, the next act for the evening was beginning to set up a wide variety of instruments. Among others, guitar, bass, violin, glockenspiel, toy piano, musical saw! Although it could be said that there seems to be a current vogue for using peculiar, quaint instruments, the inclusion of such things as the musical saw was not just for visual appeal. Indeed the saw added a magical yet sinister feel to the set. Orphans and Vandals are an interesting mix. Frontman Al Joshua was highly watchable, increasingly seething and direct, his storytelling style drew the audience's attention and held it tightly while the band's solemnity seemed to increase the gravitas of each lyric and chord change. Drifting through a truly engaging set, my highlight was Terra Firma with its head-nod rhythm and haunting London references. Definitely worth looking out for, Orphans and Vandals were well enjoyed by the Quiet Night's crowd and have ‘Terra Firma' for sale from their Myspace .

So, after another short break, the headlining act were ready, Fanfarlo are a six piece band based in London. Taking to the stage amid cheers and applause, it was clear that this band had firm support seated in the Nash room. Opening with acoustic guitar and glockenspiel, very soon Fanfarlo had changed the atmosphere completely. Their upbeat songs rousing the audience into a far more jovial mood. Delivering an uplifting set of folksy pop, Fanfarlo's charm lay as much in their relaxed, fun attitude as it did in their material. Youthful yet classic, they bounced through their mix of strong vocal melodies with varied instrumentation that included trumpet, violin, stylophone, mandolin and a fair few stomps and claps in there for good measure. The crowd were in great spirits as Fanfarlo's upbeat nature rubbed off on all present. Having whipped up a small storm, they finished more downtempo and ended another splendid Quiet Night at the ICA just in time for last orders at my favourite restaurant in China town... perfect.

 

 

 

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