Gwyneth Herbert, Jim Stoten and Phil Kay
At the Albion. Reviewed by Fiona McGarry
The talented jazz singer, musician and composer Gwyneth Herbert has been, in her own words, in a ‘cocoon’ over the last few months. Last night she emerged to perform at what was billed as ‘a spectacular evening of story-telling, stand up and song’ at the Albion. She appeared together with Phil Kay –award-winning anarchic Scottish comedian, and Jim Stoten: illustrator, but also a musician, comic and all-round creative.
Phil Kay was mesmeric – he draws the audience in with his vivid, meandering stories: a Megabus trip involving crack in the tiny toilet; partying with prawn factory workers (who obligingly sawed a ring off his swollen finger) and snogging in a locked freezer. The stories are deceptively well-crafted despite his slightly manic digressions. And then there was his his impromptu song about arriving in Hastings, which captured the spirit of the town and delighted the audience – In fact, the audience were enthralled by the chaos, some giggling uncontrollably.
After this we were treated to a visit to Jim Stoten’s quirky world. Jim adopts the persona of someone ‘on the spectrum’ who believes that the audience are ‘not very bright’. He uses the device of reading from his notebook, asking the audience to choose whether they want him to read out his record of Yahtzee scores or his poems. Some poems are surreal (12 little oranges glued to a horse) and some deliberately silly – resulting in everyone begging for the Yahtzee scores. This was the antithesis of Phil’s weaving narratives – rather than trying to keep up, we are one step ahead.
The third part of the evening was, for me, a vivid introduction to Gwyneth Herbert’s music, but not for most of the audience, who seemed familiar with her work, including two fans at our table who ‘follow her everywhere’. Gwyneth played ukulele, piano and frying pan (!) accompanied by Sam Burgess, long-time friend and band member, on double bass. It was the first time that she had played in this stripped-down format: it showcased her remarkable voice, allowing her to experiment with sounds (At times she sounded pure jazz, at others folky and even at times reminiscent of The Clangers!). It also drew attention to the poignant lyrics of songs like ‘So worn out’, a song she wrote about a homeless person that she passed near the bus stop each night when she lived in London and came home on the 277 bus.
The set included songs from her 2018 project Letters I Never Wrote. Until The Dust Settles, a song she wrote after spending time at a refugee camp in Calais, was spellbinding. An unwritten letter from a mother to a daughter, she sang it powerfully, expressing the pain and passion of a mother separated from her child.
Other songs were delicate, her voice cracking, almost whispering, like a female Tom Waits. The very moving Being Here was inspired by and developed at a workshop at Hope, a Suffolk women’s refuge. She could also belt out loud bluesy numbers like Take Me Away and her sunny single, Perfect Fit.
I was left with the sense that Gwyneth Herbert is a remarkable person – not least because of her compassion and engagement with community issues and people who are suffering. This impacts on her soulful songs and performance. Her set was a great follow up to Phil and Jim’s stand-up comedy: it meant that overall, the evening was a rollercoaster of emotions – laughter, sadness, but also a great sense of having experienced something very intimate and special.
• Gwyneth is performing at ‘Festival by the Lake’ in support of refugees on 23rd June at Ashburnham Place
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/festival-by-the-lake-2019-tickets-59163003135 www.gwynethherbert.com
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