Helios/Goldmund at The Union Chapel

Helios/Goldmund at The Union Chapel

12 August, 2009
by: Gina Louise

Tired from a hard slog at the office, I can think of no better way to relax than to soak up the ambient sounds of modern classicist Keith Kenniff in the beautiful setting of the Union Chapel with a steaming cuppa. However, upon arrival I am but a little peeved that the ever-reliable tea ladies are absent, and dejectedly pull up a pew in the claustrophobic silence that saturates the church.

Keith Kenniff is appearing as both Goldmund and Helios tonight, and as I know little about either I'm keen to get started. After a fairly good warm up from Ramesis III (forgiving any minor amateur mishaps with sound), Kenniff begins his pianist set as Goldmund. After a bit of a fiddle with his computer, the somewhat redundant ambient synths strike up and he takes his place at the upright.

Playing with a lethargic ease that is inspiring to watch, he plays a myriad of piano-based melancholia, ranging from sinister bassy anthems to dewy high note orientated songs. He has a strange ability to strike the keys with so much tact and precision that the same note evokes a different emotion every time it is struck. The melodies are somewhat standard, and would not look out of place on the soundtrack to a chick-flick, yet the elegance of his performance transforms his songs into transcendental harmonies.

The set ends and, after a quick dash off stage, a decidedly similar looking fellow returns in the guise of Helios, where he proceeds to play his ambient contemporary classics. Whilst Goldmund's music is lushly melodic, Helios is a mixture of experimental field sounds, classical influences and loop pedalled voices. Though the majority of his songs span over six minutes, they seem like mere moments in which you're whisked into a magical world of ambient synaesthesia. The momentary silence at the end of each song is stymied with justly deserved raucous applause.

Kenniff proves not only to be a multi-instrumentalist, but a modern day one-man band. Far from the humorous image of a struggling Cockney with a big bass drum on his back and cymbals on his ankles, he plays four instruments with relative ease. With his hands controlling the melody on his keyboard and the ambience on the synthesiser, his feet are left free to control the drums and loop pedal. Even when a minimal amount of kick back from the speakers occurs his countenance isn't flustered, and as soon as a limb is free it's sorted.

Having travelled 24 hours to play just a small scattering of gigs in London, Kenniff is still in jocund spirits, and converses with the audience after each of his pseudonym gigs. The only drawback to such a fantastically atmospheric gig in a silent chapel is that my many niggling neurosis creep into the performance. Each tapping foot, every wringing hand, every loud breath mingles itself with the odd mixture of field noises typical of a Helios performance. But apart from my monumental intolerance of other people, Keith Kenniff truly cannot be faulted.

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Gina Louise