J'hann J'hannsson and Lichens, 6/28 @ St. Mary's Church

Photo | Molly Campbell Lichens The pews of St. Mary's Church were packed tight this past Saturday, but with a nontraditional congregation. Midway through its fifteenth year of presenting ambient and experimental performances, the Gatherings Concert Series really outdid itself with the Lichens / J'hannJ'hannsson show. A friend and I sat in the front row but we were promptly told that we could move closer onto the floor surrounding the stage, if we liked. We liked, and upon sitting down were then offered pillows and a blanket. Thus set the tone of the evening. Gentle people listening to gentle music. And loving it.

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J'hann J'hannsson and Lichens, 6/28 @ St. Mary's Church

POSTED: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 4:30 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass | Music | Show concert photos

Photo | Molly Campbell

Lichens

The pews of St. Mary's Church were packed tight this past Saturday, but with a nontraditional congregation. Midway through its fifteenth year of presenting ambient and experimental performances, the Gatherings Concert Series really outdid itself with the Lichens / J'hannJ'hannsson show. A friend and I sat in the front row but we were promptly told that we could move closer onto the floor surrounding the stage, if we liked. We liked, and upon sitting down were then offered pillows and a blanket. Thus set the tone of the evening. Gentle people listening to gentle music. And loving it.

Besides being the oldest living organisms on the planet, Lichens is Robert Lowe, formerly of progressive/experimental rock band 90 Day Men. Lichens is an exploration of what one (and occasionally one more) musician can achieve with a looping pedal, the occasional instrument and human vocal chords. To begin, Lowe meditatively closed his eyes, raised a microphone to his lips and out poured of realistic bird chirps, which he gradually looping it into an ostinato web of tweets, coos and cackles. It was an entire forest created out of thin air' and then he began to sing. Like a siren, a banshee, a choir of angels, an enchanted Bobby McFerrin, Lichens' looped, wordless vocals eventually drowned out the birdcalls and enveloped the entire audience in a sea of astonishingly beautiful droning cries and screams. A capella ambient music, how awesome is that? Simultaneously natural and ethereal, witnessing the creation of this music was a bit like witnessing the creation of the universe, like listening to God breathe life into the elements.

Photo | Molly Campbell

J'hann J'hannsson

J'hann J'hannsson is one of Iceland's foremost musicians. He is currently two albums into a proposed trilogy exploring the game of tug-of-war that is humanity's all-consuming desire to expand, progress, take over and otherwise conquer the universe, versus nature's all-powerful restoring force. As if to mimic this juxtaposition, his ensemble employs both natural (string quartet, for this tour featuring members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and electronic (Johann and another musician on synthesizers, drum machines, and all manner of electronic noisemakers) instruments. Together they create a super-lush timbre, as overwhelming as it is beautiful, where sweeping strings dance in and around ambient textures, gradually evolving, crescendoing, drawing back and introducing a countermelody. Magn's Helgason's projections of photographs and impressionistic shapes and swirls, and the seventy candles that someone had strewn about the stage between sets shed just the right amount of light on the performers, giving them a magical glow to match their majestic music. The sea of sound filled the volume of the church to the point that it was almost overwhelming. 'Its always great when you can play in a place that sounds as good as this,' remarked Johann after the performance; and indeed it was. Nearly every number ended with a solid 10 seconds of silence as the audience sat with bated breath, not wanting to interrupt the serenity of the moment.

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