Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo dwell in the gothic sounds of Folk Noir and captivate an attentive audience. They draw from many elements. If the music reflects still waters, it does run deep.
Harvey and mates took inspiration from Punk, Glam and the opposite of what was regarded as stadium Rock. He is a multi-instrumentalist. At the time he played guitar in emulation of Ron Asheton of the Stooges, and possibly the two guys from MC5.
The briefest of homages to Wayne Kramer, who has just passed away. Patti Smith’s husband Fred Sonic Smith died 30 years ago!
As the Birthday Party, they could come up with slightly sick, blistering stuff like the Nick the Stripper.
This carried on to the initial Bad Seeds albums, where they made a great musical art form out of it.
The association ended in 2009 amicably, I think.
Harvey has a solo career since, which includes three (to date) albums of Serge Gainsborough songs.
He has produced other members of the Bad Seeds and possibly the Birthday Party. He has also produced albums for PJ Harvey.
One of my favourite cult obsessions is the movie and soundtrack to Ghosts…of the Civil Dead. Nick Cave co-wrote it and acted the role of a psychotic racist prisoner in a manic, evil fashion. Harvey and Blixa Bargeld supply the music with Cave.
It’s a tough watch and not for the faint-hearted. Based partly on the autobiography of Jack Henry Abbot and his book In the Belly of the Beast.
I was keen to see Mick Harvey then from his long storied musical career.
The idea was to interpret other artist’s songs in a dark and foreboding fashion. And to have some of their own material.
Phantasmagoria in Blue is their album.
Phantasmagoria in 2 is a lesser-known Tim Buckley song. Everywhere there is rain my love/ And everywhere there are tears. They play this as a nice Country Folk song as led by the courting fiddle.
Playing with them on this short tour is Anita Clark, a virtuoso violinist. Except when the song has any Country cadence, then it’s a fiddle. More about her later.
They open with a well-known Buckley song, Song to the Siren. A folk reverie and nothing dark yet. Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Harvey tells us they have recorded an album’s worth of Jackson C. Frank songs and two are played tonight.
Frank was a cult American Folk songwriter, whom I knew nothing about. He shared digs in London with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in the mid-sixties before their breakthrough hit Sounds of Silence.
His songs have been recorded by heavyweights. Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake amongst many.
His life was difficult to say the least. Horribly maimed in a school fire. Suffered depression and multiple medical conditions. Was homeless for long periods, until he was rediscovered by Folk fans in the Nineties, who helped in a rehabilitation.
He died in 1999 aged 56.
Milk and Honey starts with a guitar coda that sounds like George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The violin mourns in a softer Folk style.
Acevedo sings in a clear and controlled Folk manner without any affectations.
Cover Me in Roses is the second Frank song. It is quite a beautiful Country Rock number.
The Tuning Fork was a little underfilled this evening. It was a genuine Folk audience tonight, who were quiet and respectful, and the music was presented without any background chatter. So much so that Harvey felt distracted by the overhead fans.
New Zealand Day holiday could be partly responsible.
Unicornio written by Silvio Rodriguez, the duo has adapted as The Blue Unicorn. An unusual version as they sing in both Spanish and the English translation. It becomes a call-and-response. Harvey sounds stark, Acevedo is softer and mellifluous. The violin plays with smooth and abrasive textures.
Rodriguez has been honoured as the best Cuban composer of the 20th century by the nation. Along with Ernesto Lecuona.
Motte is the artist’s handle for Anita Clark.
She is from Christchurch, and she has played in the Folk band the Eastern. She is a virtuoso violinist and is an in-demand player for many of the top New Zealand acts. Marlon Williams, Don McGlashan, Delaney Davidson, Nadia Reid amongst them.
She uses loop tracks to build an accompanying rhythm or coda from her instrument. Oriental tones emerge. There is the air of creepy suspense of horror movies.
Her music is cinematic. She uses natural sounds like leaves, stones and pebbles rustling to incorporate different textures.
All the while you hear different melodies in counterpoint from her violin.
The cinematic nature did remind me of another take on Post Rock, and the band that played here a few days ago, Russian Circles.
She plays a theremin, which is wonderful. I get flashes of what an AI voice could be. The music coming from the electric field could be large birds of prey, or whales singing.
She finishes with Cold and Liquid, the title track from her album. Starts with a low funeral march and works up to and east-west harmonic blend.
This may be Future Folk.
Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo give me the biggest internal belly laugh for the night.
I thought he was singing I wish that I were stoned. I thought Yes! Great! This is a bit like Van Morrison and his And It Stoned Me. From the wonderful Moondance album. And it stoned me to my soul/ Stoned me just like Jelly-Roll.
But no, he’s singing about gargoyles and Stone statues. It is off his Four Acts of Love solo album. Nice one.
A ghost on the highway story that does get under the skin.
There is a lot of the history of Mick Harvey and there is the spirit nature of Amanda Acevedo. The music of their association is fresh and compelling.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Dennis O’Keefe
Mick Harvey, Amanda Aceveco, Motte
