The Underground of Happiness

Chapter 25 The last time I saw Richard Hawley was in The Opera House . Him and band. All seated. Now I love Richard Hawley but I said then I’ll never go and see him there again. Somehow the seated audience did not fit with his noisier oeuvre – Standing at the sky’s edge et al. The quieter material and ballads worked a dream there. That’s why I didn’t buy a ticket to see Richard Hawley this time. But again the universe dictated that I would attend…you know the way…friend of a friend… (Incidentally the best venue I’ve seen him in was The Savoy . All standing. All his material worked great there including all 10 minutes of the majestic Remorse code.) Turned out it wasn’t him and band at all. Just him and Shez Sheridan . I said I would have bought a ticket if I could be guaranteed a set of ballads. That’s what I got, just not with the band arrangements. What are we left with? His velvety croon which is a fantastic instrument in itself. And some wonderful songs. Including wh...

We had a few extracts from the interview with Casper Clausen , the singer from Efterklang , on the show this week. The full interview is available here. Topics of conversation include Vincent Moon and the making of the film An island , celebrity crushes, the common ground between Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey , the differences between The Leaf Label and 4AD , their collaboration with Daniel Bjarnason and the Messing Orchestra for the Reich Effect Festival at the Savoy Theatre in Cork , the secret location for work on their new album, their Efterkids music education program and being “married” to music. Listen out too for an unexpected rendition of The Beatles’ Penny Lane . AN ISLAND - 3rd TEASER - Vincent Moon & Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo . The gig they played in Cork (the night after I did the interview) was a powerful, even emotional event. More thoughts on it here .

So Efterklang came to town over the weekend (that's Rasmus and Casper on stage in the photo above). They brought some friends with them - about 17 in fact. Here's the crowd from a photo taken before their February performance at the CrossLinx Festival in Holland . I found that photo on Morris Kliphuis' blog, http://morriskliphuis.blogspot.com/2011/07/efterklang-in-cork.html , who was part of The Messing Saxes onstage, I believe. That's Daniel Bjarnason in front, centre of that pic. He's the one who made these arrangements for the Efterklang songs, and also played a Rhodes (I think it was) onstage. Aswell as Casper, Rasmus, Mads and Thomas, the core members of the band, there was also Daniel James (aka Canon Blue ) on guitar, Peter Broderick on marimba, violin, vocals, steel drum (has he been listening to Wildbirds & Peacedrums I wonder?) and very possibly some other stuff, Heather Woods Broderick on keys, vocals and flute and a second marimba player who...

As you know, Efterklang are playing in Cork this coming weekend, at the Savoy Theatre , Saturday night July 30th. And by the sounds of this, from the Efterklang website , it will be very special. " Efterklang+Daniel Bjarnason & Their Messing Orchestra is a special 17 piece band that debuted at the Cross Linx festival tour in February earlier this year. It is the 7-piece Efterklang live band with Daniel James (of Canon Blue) on guitar, Heather Broderick on piano and Peter Broderick on vibes and steel drum. And then we have the brilliant Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason on Rhodes and then you add a saxophone quartet, a brass quartet and a classic percussionist. This all turns into Efterklang + Daniel Bjarnason & Their Messing Orchestra. We will be playing Efterklang songs with arrangements for the Messing Orchestra by Daniel Bjarnason ." Sounds fantastic on paper, says you, and here's a taste or two of what it might sound like in the flesh (also from the Eft...

A quick update on one of my musical events of the year so far, the Efterklang film made by Vincent Moon , An Island . If this is news to you, it's been mentioned on these pages already, here and here - and here's some other background - In August 2010, French filmmaker Vincent Moon and Efterklang’s 8 piece-live band met up on an island off the Danish coast. The objective was to shoot a film. A film with the same length as an album, and a film full of performances, experiments and collaborations. Over an intense period of 4 days Efterklang collaborated with more than 200 local musicians, kids and parents, creating new performances and interpretations of songs from their album Magic Chairs (4AD, Rumraket 2010). It was all filmed by Vincent Moon who same time conducted several filmic and musical experiments with Efterklang as his dedicated playmates. An Island is an unconventional music performance film and an abstract documentary about a band and an island. The running time...