Daylight Music at The Union Chapel – Arctic Circle at 10

By Steve Janes

On November 11, 2016

In News

ARCTIC CIRCLE TURNS 10 AT

DAYLIGHT MUSIC AT THE UNION CHAPEL:

A lazy Saturday afternoon with music, tea and cake

The Winter season continues Saturdays in November and December at the Union Chapel from midday

Entrance is free (£5 donation suggested)

Daylight Music is brought to you by Arctic Circle, who celebrate 10 years with a carefully curated selection of celebratory shows including a date on 12 November with North Sea Radio Orchestra, Snowapple and Ed Dowie, and on 26 November with Laura Cannell, Charles Hayward, Mythos of Violins, and Jennifer Lucy Allan, with more birthday shows scheduled for 2017.

Arctic Circle’s catch line, An Expedition Into New Music, paints a perfect picture of London’s most adventurous, tenacious, innovative and delightfully unpretentious musical curators, who, a decade after their inception, are established as a vital component of the capital’s 21^st century music culture. Having promoted over a thousand artists, and hosted performances everywhere from the bohemian cellar of the Notting Hill Arts Club to the stratospheric heights of Tate Britain and the Olympic Park, Arctic Circle is now a byword for musical communality and going the extra mile when it comes to staging magically-themed events and presenting prestigious, cutting-edge (and sometimes, otherwise criminally overlooked) musicians in some of London’s most atmospheric, characterful venues.

It’s a delightfully accessible approach that characterises AC’s regular, free, Saturday afternoon ‘Daylight Music’ concerts, which have been taking place at Islington’s glorious Union Chapel, the AC’s de facto HQ, since 2008, their renown building inexorably, largely by word of mouth. A genuinely unique, wonderfully accessible live music phenomenon (or a “A lazy Saturday afternoon with music, tea and cake”, as their website has it), Daylight has now sewn itself into the very fabric of London’s cultural life. Attracting around five hundred souls every week to enjoy an eclectic panoply of music from both new and established artists, Daylight’s combination of social conviviality and high calibre artistry now provides the charming highlight of many a Londoner’s weekend, the venerable chapel transformed into a nexus of free-spirited musical creativity and genuine good feeling. In the last year alone, Daylight has played host to a typically diverse roster that includes such names as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ryan Teague, Stick in the Wheel and The Wave Pictures – names to add to the now vast and eclectic Daylight roll call that includes everyone from Nick Heyward to The Frank Chickens. The current season promises further, typically diverse, treats, with appearances inked in from Michele Stodart (of The Magic Numbers), The Clientele’s Alasdair Maclean, the North Sea Radio Orchestra, Woodpigeon, ex-Stereolab singer Lætitia Sadier and the London Accordion Orchestra.

But Daylight is just, as it were, the tip of the Arctic Circle iceberg. Ten years on from its inception by founder and organiser-in-chief Ben Eshmade, it’s surely time to celebrate the AC’s organic yet inexorable evolution, which has, over time, blossomed into a genuine community of like-minded musicians and musical enthusiasts, along the way garnering the curatorial clout to promote and present performances by such musical notables as Michael Nyman and Gavin Bryars, while continuing to foster exciting, emergent young talent. After all, it was the AC that gave early UK exposure to artists like Nico Muhly, Nils Frahm, Hauschka and Peter Broderick, and has subsequently promoted everything from the critically acclaimed and esoteric (Johann Johansson, The Notwist, Colleen, the Portico Quartet, Efterklang…) to next generation leftfield stars-in-waiting (Haiku Salut, James McVinnie), the plain singular (Frank Sidebottom) and even the tea-time TV mainstream (Paloma Faith), alongside many dozens of other established or potential musical luminaries.

View Daylight Music performances from Revere, Alasdair Maclean (The Clientele), Ed Dowie and more via their Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcQIV4nmMTnCdOSh0NJsKIw

REMAINING DATES FOR DAYLIGHT MUSIC

WINTER SEASON 2016:

November 12 – ARCTIC CIRCLE AT TEN: North Sea Radio Orchestra, Snowapple + Ed Dowie

November 19 – Woodpigeon, More Is More + Cevanne & Crewdson

November 26 – ARCTIC CIRCLE AT TEN: Laura Cannell presents “Memory Mapping”: Charles Hayward, Mythos of Violins, Hoofus + Jennifer Lucy Allan

December 3 – That Fuzzy Feeling part 1 – Christmas Special

December 17 – That Fuzzy Feeling part 2 – Christmas Special

FULL LISTINGS:

November 12

ARCTIC CIRCLE AT TEN: North Sea Radio Orchestra, Snowapple + Ed Dowie

North Sea Radio Orchestra, Snowapple, Ed Dowie

A special show celebrating ten years of Arctic Circle’s various musical adventures. North Sea Radio Orchestra layer guitars, violin, cello, bassoon, clarinets, organ, synth, vibes, percussion and beautiful melodies to gorgeous effect. After a four-year break, they’re back with a new album of chiming, shifting sounds.

Dutch trio Snowapple form a remarkable ensemble, with the three central voices by turns merging into majestic harmonies and peeling off into moving solos. Their giddy leapfrogging between genres, combined with the wide range of instruments they play, creates an amazing sound.

Ed Dowie started making music in the late 1990s with Beta Band label mates, Brothers in Sound; his solo music has appeared on various short films and TV and has regularly featured on BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM.

November 19

Woodpigeon, More is More + Cevanne

Earlier this year, Canadian musician Woodpigeon, a.k.a. Mark Andrew Hamilton released T R O U B L E, his best album to date. Merging the best of John Grant with Avalon era Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night, and a nod towards Kanye West’s Yeezus, the sounds are transposed to a largely acoustic setting feeding off influences from his travels across the globe. http://www.woodpigeon-songbook.com/

More is More is an exciting collaboration of some of the best young instrumentalists of their generation playing their own innovative brand of totally improvised groove music.

Cevanne create their own extraordinary sonic world, spinning together folk and electronics using their voices, the harp and even their own invented electronic instruments; these include the concertronica and the sonic bonnet!

26^th November

ARCTIC CIRCLE AT TEN: Laura Cannell presents “Memory Mapping”: Charles Hayward, Mythos of Violins, Hoofus + Jennifer Lucy Allan

Laura Cannell performs from her third solo album Simultaneous Flight Movement (released 21.10.16) – A collection of new works from the edge of England which seek to dissolve borders, move away from formal structure and to re-imagine a sonic landscape unrestricted by time or origin. With a background in medieval, traditional and experimental music, Laura explores the spaces between ancient and experimental through the use of overbowed fiddle, double recorders and improvisation to create new music that is rooted in but not tethered to the past.

Recorded inside Southwold Lighthouse on 23rd June, the white conical walls shaped the music which unfurled skywards and away over The North Sea. Today Laura will perform versions which explore the air, stone and wood within the walls of The Union Chapel. Recent highlights include a current UK/EU solo tour, airplay on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 6Music and rave reviews in Record Collector, Mojo Magazine and The Wire amongst others. www.lauracannell.co.uk

Charles Hayward gives a solo performance of his piano piece (begin anywhere); a sequence of betrayal and paranoia, opening out into hope and humanity, interweaved with sound events and spoken word.

Mythos of Violins is the work of experimental violinists Laura Cannell and Angharad Davies, creating new works inspired by location and memory; they will be performing a special piece inspired by the Union Chapel.

Jennifer Lucy Allan will be weaving rural and industrial soundscapes through this very special event.

3^rd December & 17^th December

That Fuzzy Feeling Parts 1 & 2

Daylight Music officially ushers Christmas in with two special shows, with seasonal surprises that are guaranteed to give you a Yuletide glow.

Daylight Music invites everyone to enjoy their unique concerts — from babies through to grandparents. The venue is also accessible, so wheelchair users are also warmly welcomed. Music encourages creativity, so if you feel like creating your own artwork, there’s even a drawing area for everyone to enjoy.

Daylight Music’s a treat for all the senses; as well as hearing glorious music, you can also admire the outstanding Gothic architecture of the Union Chapel; it’s frequently voted one of London’s best music venues. You can also treat yourself to a cup of tea, a slice of quiche and homemade cake; the café’s run by the Margins Project so you’ll be supporting London’s homeless people while you enjoy your lunch.

Experience for yourself the magic of Daylight Music, combining fantastic music, a friendly atmosphere and delicious food, in one of London’s finest venues. It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday lunchtime.