HowTheLightGetsIn at the Roundhouse

HowTheLightGetsIn at the Roundhouse

04 April, 2011
by: Kathryn-42

From Stephen Hawking to Countdown and from moral relativism to animal sex, HowTheLightGetsIn takes the Roundhouse on a magical mystery tour.

On Thursday night, music and philosophy festival HowTheLightGetsIn made its London debut at the Roundhouse. It is now a 250-events-a-year sort of affair, having grown ten-fold in the past three or four years.

A combination of debate, music and comedy, the evening is kicked off by a ‘post-Lyotard’ discussion of the death of metanarratives and what ‘new gods’ they might be replaced with. The panel is made up of journalist Bryan Appleyard, philosophers Christopher Hamilton and Barry C Smith, and Plato expert Angie Hobbs, skilfully chaired by Hilary Lawson.

Appleyard argues that the new trend for ‘Scientism’, which proposes to make philosophy irrelevant, is a dangerous one. Hamilton discusses how our perception of relativism is, after all, relative, and that “we as modern liberals” need to be suspicious of the theories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Smith speaks of how the internet demonstrates the number of different ideologies in existence, by giving “bizarre extremists” a place to speak with each other. Hobbs denounces the need for ‘indubitability', and calls instead for a new Renaissance. They critique the world, they critique each other, and, most of all, they critique Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins. The discussion encompasses the Enlightenment, Christianity, metaphysics, the death of philosophy, and whether or not the ideological dominance of the West is under threat. Unsurprisingly, no grand conclusions are reached, but not for lack of trying.

And then for something completely different. Next up is musical comedy act Helen Arney, brandishing a ukulele, “or a shit guitar, depending on your philosophical viewpoint”. She is quick, charming, and launches into a variety of songs about dating, zoology, geeks and Countdown, as a sneak preview of her upcoming national tour ‘Monkeys Uncaged’. If Josie Long and Flight of the Conchords joined forces, they'd produce something very similar to Helen Arney. In one song, she rails against Carol Vorderman 2.0, Rachel Riley, who “did well on her maths course, and now is a clotheshorse”. In another, she croons, ”let’s make love like animals”, before going on to describe some disturbingly graphic animal mating habits. Isabella Rossellini would have been proud.

The final part of the evening is Lucy Rose. She's introduced as “the new Laura Marling”, which seems to be the curse of every young female singer with a guitar and a fringe. The comparison, in this case, is apt. Whether or not you're a fan of Ms Marling is a good indicator of how you're likely to feel about Lucy Rose: her shy and self-effacing rabbit-in-the-headlights attitude is admittedly adorable, but to certain people it may also be kind of irritating. With an exceptional voice and the looks of Marianne Faithfull, at her best Lucy Rose sounds a little like Stornoway, but in the end is let down by unadventurous songwriting, and overuse of the words ‘funky’ and groovy’ during stage banter.

The three parts of the evening are so disparate that the event has the feel of a mini-festival, minus the wellies and the mud. Keep an eye out for the full HowTheLightGetsIn events schedule, set to be released later in April. Thought-provoking, debate-inspiring, varied and fun, this first London event bodes well for the future.

Read Tom's review of HowTheLightGetsIn festival, June 2010.

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Kathryn-42