Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra
Trinity, Bristol | 8 March
We enter the Trinity Centre’s newly renovated second floor hall just in time for the first wave of Portishead’s Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra to unfurl over the hushed and huddled audience.
Every eye and ear in the room is directed towards the 20 or so strong, seated army of guitars; a Swiss army of sorts as opposed to Glen Branca’s sonic annihilations, but every bit as effective. Terry Riley’s In C was and still is a groundbreaking piece of minimalism, endlessly interpreted and revisited; the original had no set duration and was designed with versatility of numbers in mind, and no two shows ever the same.
Having been frequently engrossed by various interpretations of Riley’s opus through the isolated comfort of headphones, the church’s newest gem proved to be the perfect setting to witness the work as a live piece. Made up of an impressive cast of musicians (including John Parish and members of Thought Forms and Portishead, naturally), the orchestra’s output tentatively grew before locking into the first of many seismic grooves. Melodies ebbed and flowed, leaving us transfixed, fruitlessly attempting to navigate exactly what sound was emerging from which guitar and where this version might head next. Some moments recalled Godspeed! at their most melancholy, others verged on triumphant.
A few weeks previous, Fuck Buttons had aurally battered Trinity’s main hall with their glacial slabs of electronic noise, which should in many ways represent the antithesis of tonight’s show. Yet, remarkably, we’re left with much the same dumb smiles as the Utley directed lullaby envelops the space. A wonderful and enchanting welcome to a new chapter in the Trinity’s already rich history.
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Words: Joe Hatt
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