A Haiku Salut Gig In A Library You Say... Why Not!
Published
This is a first for me. A gig inside a library. Even just writing that sends me into turmoil. It’s a whopping oxymoron and for about five minutes it makes me feel a little uneasy. But everyone here is in the same boat, as my entrance poll reveals it’s also a first for most of the audience. One smiley bookish looking girl comments “Well I love libraries … and I love gigs … So this is the perfect night out for me.”
It’s certainly atmospheric. The photocopy office becomes a makeshift backstage room. The lending desk transforms into a bar and the backdrop to the stage area is rows and rows of shelves, chock-a-stock full of interesting looking hardbacks. And lamps of all shapes, sizes and styles dotted around the performance area.
There are two support acts, Grawl!x are first with the meltiest Pale Saints-y kind of vocals, and a brave second song choice, an acoustic solo effort from the frontman, which is met with hushed awe and wonder. Next up is Emma Kupa, not really my bag, kind of an old head on young shoulders, and some of the subject matter was a little depressing for a Friday night. She had a great line in library related banter though, which raised a few chuckles.
So then it was time for the main event, Haiku Salut’s ‘Lamp Show’, an unassuming entrance by three women from Derbyshire, all in black, and straight bang into a beautiful set of magical-ness. There was a wide array of instruments set out, including bass drum, trumpet, acoustic guitar, huge accordion, xylophone, snares, a kind of tube thing that looked like the end of a bong, and a laptop. And the thing that totally blew me away was that each one of Haiku Salut were interchanging between the instruments with total ease and grace.
They were like three little musically-gifted fairies flitting around, and it all fitted beautifully together like a well-crafted jigsaw puzzle. The lamps, sometimes gently glowing, sometimes harsh and strobe-like, and timed to flicker on and off in perfect synchronisation with the sounds, added another dimension to the night, and lifted those mundane lines of books into a wondrous, enchanted space.
Haiku Salut held everyone under their spell from start to finish, with a good selection of songs from their latest album, as well as their previous 2013 debut. ‘You Dance a Particular Algorithm’ is so subtle and barely there at first, before swooping and looping in like a joyous fun-filled fairground ride. ‘Sounds Like There’s a Pacman Crunching Away At Your Heart’ sounds like just that, bleeps and bloops abound, and it’s all very eighties with a surprisingly touching trumpet finale. One of my favourites, ‘Bleak and Beautiful’ kicks in and the lack of lyrics suddenly makes complete sense to me.
When you have this range and such a diverse assortment of sounds at your fingertips, Haiku Salut prove that words are really very unnecessary. I was completely captivated, and not only was this the best gig I’ve ever been to in a library, but also one of the best gigs of this year.
To find out more about Haiku Salut click here.
To visit the haiku Salut Facebook page click here.
Words by Mary Long
