[NOT FRINGE] the sounds of silence

[reverancepavane]

The Grace Emily is an aggressively old-style no-pokies city pub where the centre of activity is the front bar and the conversation that one can have in it. It does, however, has an intimate (one step up from small) area for the performance of live music. The big problem with it as a live music venue is that you usually get considerable noise leakage from the adjacent bar (although admittedly it's not as bad as some venues). People who don't like the music will attempt to continue their conversations by talking over it, often to the detriment of the people attempting to listen to it. Except last night. Last night was the quietest I have ever heard the Grace, despite the fact the front bar was open, and the fact that the pub (at least the back half) was full of people. And that's because Aluka [MySpace] was playing. Aluka is a Melbourne-based a cappella trio, and these three beautiful and delightful women held the audience totally enraptured and spellbound with their voices. It was so quiet that you would have easily heard a pin drop, provided someone would have been sacrilegious enough to have dropped one. Which is something that just doesn't happen at the Grace. It just doesn't. Anyway Anabelle, Rachaelle, and Anna managed it, although I have a suspicion that the depth of appreciation had caught them somewhat by surprise. Especially compared to their previous Adelaide gig at The Gov in support of Clare Bowditch, where they were heartily surprised that anyone had actually heard them, let alone listened to them sing (there were reasons for this; not very good ones in my book, but reasons). They performed the songs from their EP, plus a few additional new ones. I particularly enjoyed Warm As Toast, and Coat Tails live was simply a delight. But like faerie gold spun from straw, I am afraid that the details are already fading from my mind, replaced by the golden glow of enchanted happiness that was the gig, leaving me vaguely unfulfilled and wishing to once again visit that enchanted moment. So if you do get the chance to hear them live, I recommend that you do so. Like most excellent a capella groups, recordings simply don't really do them justice. Instead it is the chemistry and the energy that they bring to the performance that rises it from simply being technically perfect to something far greater. Perfection takes no risks with itself. And these ladies risk it all. It's interesting that they are an a capella trio, which is something I had not previously come across before, despite being a bit of an a capella junkie. Most of the a capella groups of my experience are quartets (or larger choirs), with much more formalised roles (eg soprano, baritone, alto, bass). However given that all three members of Aluka have fairly similar ranges, it has the interesting dimension that they can easily swap roles and parts during a song, and they frequently do. This adds another interesting layer of complexity to the piece, as well as providing another reason to see them live, so you can appreciate the artistry in them doing so. And it allows them to "thicken" the sound to some degree, provided they are performing the right songs. This is why you'll mostly find them singing their own compositions and arrangements, as the more traditional forms probably wouldn't really work for them all that well.