Live Review: Soft Soft Loud

Some of the most intimate and special moments one could experience at a concert in this town, for a lot of people, have been at the Freo Arts Centre. Their Soft Soft Loud series promised some of WA's finest musicians performing a variety of classical and contemporary work, headlined by the The National's Bryce Dessner as feature composer.
As soon as everyone had found their seats and begun pondering why there was a car door on stage, a string quartet kicked things off (if such a term could be used here) with Dessner's piece, Tenebre. A Renaissance period-inspired tribute to the lighting designer for San Francisco's Kronos Quartet, its frenetic nature captured the audience's attention from the get-go, with some well-timed pre-recorded vocal harmonies – courtesy of Dessner's mate Sufjan Stevens – being introduced towards the end.
Nico Muhly's It Goes Without Saying was performed next, blending clarinet with harmonium and an array of glitchy clicks and noises, which certainly sounded impressive but all we had to look at was Ashley Smith playing the clarinet part to a backing track. Despite this, the music itself was absolutely brilliant, though it did come as something of a relief to see the stage once again filling with musicians in preparation for the James Ledger-composed When Chaplin Met Einstein. Inspired by a real-life meeting between the two historical figures of the title, the 'new meets old' theme was all to do with throwing a Hammond organ into the mix of strings and woodwinds, creating a kind of schlock-film madness that lightened the mood nicely.
Bryce Dessner then took to the stage with his electric guitar to give us Feedback Counterpoint. Creating a tapestry of harmonics and volume swells with a loop pedal, Dessner proceeded to bash the headstock on the floor with the reverb cranked, and even played certain parts with a bow. Spinal Tap moments aside, it was one of the evening's true highlights. Finally, the car door got used/slammed in Andy Akiho's To Walk Or Run In West Harlem, albeit only once. Chronicling the night in which Akiho got mugged on his way home, it was thrillingly cinematic in its delivery. Dessner's lauded Aheym was then performed in all its glory by chamber orchestra, its dense and abrasive arrangement providing the perfect finale to another beautiful evening at one of our best venues.