Alabaster DePlume and Bellatrix

Saturday 2nd February 2019
Hangar, Hackney, East London
 

Bellatrix (best known as a beatboxer, I was told) was a revelation. Killer band making an immense sound: two women drumming and a guitarist doing cool textural work and triggering stuff on a synth, Bella herself singing in a piercing, otherworldly voice, and playing bass on about half the songs. A captivating performer who it's easy to imagine progressing rapidly onto much larger stages. At times it felt like a reimagining of the 80s — the spooky/cold 80s and the "tribal" 80s, but with triphop flavours, and at times a kind of post-grime Kate Bush vibe (sorry to bring KB into this, she's so overcompared, but in this case, it really is...).

Alabaster's band involved Donna Thompson (one of the drummers with Bellatrix) drumming alongside Sarathy Korwar (drumkit and tabla), Hannah from the Moulettes on electric six-string cello (built by her luthier dad) and Danalogue on analogue synths. His biggest audience yet, and a large Canterbury contingent were there to support him. He sold the place out and had everyone as spellbound — in a trendy East London concrete bunker venue — as he did the last time I saw him play, at an intimate fireside gig in the woods. His melodies and facial expressions and turns of phrase are all so extraordinary that his saxophone playing sometimes gets overlooked. He's a self-taught tenor player and plays like no other. He was on top form. AND his mum was in the audience (a surprise trip down from Manchester). Everyone left feeling better, no doubt, after being reassured, for a final time that we were "doing very well" by a beaming Mr. DePlume before he departed the necessary. No encore needed. That was so good. Then a falafel wrap, and talking with Garance and some of the Smuggler-y crowd clustered out the back of a surprisingly friendly pub in the cold for a while before being whisked back to the CT.