Ushered downstairs in Little Portland Street’s renowned venue, The Social, by Stanley Donwood himself, adorned in dapper suit and hat, we were calmly led into a pastoral themed Faber night. Nature-orientated stills were projected onto the wall of the venue, Bleep DJs were all set up to DJ for this event, the crowd were very much lured into a world of Donwood’s making.
First on the bill was Ric Jerrom reading extracts from Stanley Donwood’s new title, Humor, published by Faber, a notable collection of predictably apocalyptic tales. Actor, writer and artist, Jerrom, known for his part in Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, in the nineties, we were evidently entertained by a Thespian and lively reading of Donwood’s fiction. He was quite an act for Paul Kingsnorth, who was reading from his book, The Wake, which was significantly long-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Paul read from an older non-fiction title before John Matthias (Ninja Tune) went full pelt into a set, which profiled his talents, varying his style for each track performed. With a background that lends itself to a fusion of tradition with futurism, he is ideal for this environmental yet apocalyptic-themed Social. Also having collaborated (violin) on Radiohead’s prolific album The Bends, and with Donwood’s connection to the Oxford band, creating the album artwork, the connections seemed too coincidental. Maybe someone has done their homework here on whom to bring in to entertain the crowd musically. Curated by Stanley Donwood, he was classically impulsive about Matthias’ performance, exclaiming his adoration for this man’s talent, vocally, and physically as he dances amidst his audience, contrasting with the conventionally odious
Having worked on projects that nod towards John’s love of classic strong structures, loose instrumentation and jarring electronic arrangements the music works for the dystopian themes previously discussed within the readings. As a member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at the University of Plymouth, Matthias has a technical, if not scientific approach to his art-form, which allows us to indulge in these discordant arrangements.
As someone who is very much aware of Donwood’s style and work, it is not an entirely oblique curation for the Faber Social event, alluding to his love for structured sounds and pastoral surroundings, which is suggested by his work collaborating with Radiohead and also travel writer, Robert MacFarlane, who had Donwood illustrate his Faber published Holloway. This event in fact has Donwood scrawled all over it from the animated reader Jerrom, through to the Bleep DJs, all indulging his love of writing, music and artwork, when you glance around the room from the projected stills, readings and oblique sonic sounds. His curated night is indeed quite a niche.
For more information on the event please check the website
