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Christian Vander sat at what looked like a Yamaha electric mini-grand in t-shirt sans sleeves, hunched over and haggard like a certain someone from Notre Dame. I admit I was hoping for some drums, but I reckon his band Magma the day before was the place to see that.
Tom Waits would be the go-to Anglophone comparison for anyone who plays weird and moody songs on a piano, but I’d be revealing my ignorance if I settled for that. It was the kind of music you’d imagine an eccentric and lonely rich man playing, alone by candlelight in a dungeon somewhere, periodically laying his head on the keys in despair. (Wasn’t there a Muppet skit like that once?) All very down-tempo and moody, in English, French, and some Mel Torme meets Speaking In Tongues scat.
The show was very sparsely attended, but it was during the late-night big names at Green and White, the rain was building to sheets (though had stopped completely by the end), and the path between Green and White was at a standstill. You’d think music this strange and formless would have people wandering away in boredom, but that did not happen. I reckon most ended up like me, mesmerized by this hulking Frenchman in the rain.
(From the photos by Wachi, I notice that I left before the woman came out to sing with him. Had I known, I definitely would have stayed. Very regrettable…I would have loved to have heard what they created together.)
-Kern
