St. George’s Church hosts revelatory concert for Hillside Inside
Churches can be strange buildings to watch a performance in. Regardless of religious affiliation, there are clear emotional, psycho-affective codes in the architecture of a church – perhaps socially codified – that are undeniably and, sometimes, vaguely powerful. When a performer like Owen Pallett, with his soul-baring, devastating music, performs while foregrounding the soft glow of the stained glass window on a cold February afternoon at the picturesque St. George’s Anglican Church, one can’t help but feel cleansed to some degree. Or at least feel something profound and transcendent.
Vish Khanna, organizer and publicist for Hillside Inside, warmed up the audience with his trademark humour and charm, opening the afternoon’s concert by introducing singer-songwriter Jennifer Castle, arriving to Guelph fresh off of a plane from Mexico City – though she hails from Toronto. Her songs are characterized by narrative-strong lyrics, raw guitar playing, and subtly literate compositions. When listening closely, it seems that Castle avoids intuitive songwriting – there are melodic and structural surprises in her compositions, in songs that would initially come off as simple or derivative, that are indeed subtle and beautiful in their complexities and whimsy. Closing with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Walkin’ Down the Line,” her set ended, Khanna returned for more humorous banter, and patrons were guided downstairs to get a drink and some food.
Pallett, formerly known as Final Fantasy, and having toured with Arcade Fire and other Canadian rock icons, writes cerebral, hyper-literate music on synthesizer and violin, playing both through a loop programmer and creating massive, swelling walls of sound. Performing material mostly off his latest LP, 2014’s In Conflict, he played roughly half the set as a solo act before bringing up his band – featuring Matt Smith (guitar/bass, vocals) and Robbie Gordon (drums), who also performed on In Conflict. The first song of his encore, “I Am Not Afraid,” off his new album, was particularly powerful given the context of the church and the perceptive gender politics that inform much of his compositional thought. “I am not afraid, ze* says/ of the non-believer within me […] You are not alone, I said/ I try to keep my belief suspended” rang heavy and honest, surely bringing a chill to every spine in the audience.
I’m brought back to a year or so ago, when the Guelph Chamber Choir scored a screening of Carl Thedor Dreyer’s classic silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc at the same church. While I knew viewing the film would be a unique experience, I didn’t expect for it to be so revelatory. The same goes for Pallett’s incredible set. Though knowing what to expect, more or less, I was taken aback by the wholeness of the experience. The beauty of the church venue, with Pallett’s maverick performance on violin and synthesizer, was an experience I won’t soon forget, and was, more or less, the best performance of this year’s Hillside Inside.