Grouper impresses in a Soho church

St Giles in the Fields, a church in Soho, is not the most conventional musical venue, but its large, echoing space perfectly suited Grouper’s recognisable brand of ethereal ambient pop.

Having seen her previously performing the stunning tape collage Rolling Gate, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this gig – Rolling Gate had no recognisable tracks or structure, merely consisting of small changes in a wall of fuzz.

This was a much more conventional affair, using guitar, piano, and of course, a lot of tape loops.

Grouper opened the set with favourites through a range of her albums, caressing the audience into relaxation with her ghostly quiet vocals, soft fuzz and delicate instrumentation, distorted beyond recognition by looping and other technical trickery I won’t pretend to understand.

The second half of the set was much closer to what I was expecting, consisting of a seemingly improvised twenty minute long track. Simple notes and chord progressions from the guitar and piano were looped over each other constantly, building to a delightfully ecstatic and surprisingly loud finale.

Superb support was offered by Chris Forsyth’s Paranoid Cat Duo. In contrast to Grouper, this was loud, noisy psych-rock, complete with 22 minute long tracks and steady detuning throughout prolonged periods of pretty crazy guitar work.

I wish I could write about the first support, Pigeons (check them out), but sadly we were too busy finding seats to pay attention.