The sixth edition of Pitchfork Festival London was the biggest it’s ever been. For six days, nearly 100 artists performed across 16 venues, including ballrooms, nightclubs, churches, and pubs. The week was marked by events that could only have happened at a Pitchfork-sponsored event: Nirosta Steel bringing his left-field disco jams to the ICA, Actress live-debuting his new project Radical Frame at EartH Theatre, and Noname celebrating 10 years of her classic mixtape Telefone at Heaven. Along with those, here are six highlights from the week.
Ana Roxanne, photo by Sam Huddleston
Ana Roxanne – KOKO, Tuesday, November 3
Ana Roxanne’s vaporous mix of New Age ambient, minimalism, and choral music took form on her latest album, Poem 1, like mist settling as morning dew. At KOKO, she appeared alongside bassist Nico Leibman and drummer Jem Doulton to perform these hymn-like songs that, despite their featherlight quality, have the power to knock the wind out of you. Roxanne makes every delicate chord change, harmony, and bass note feel like a seismic variation, and their simplicity allows her unhurried soprano to take center stage, as it did on the gently pulsating “Keepsake” and bracing elegy “Cover Me.” Even the gentle brush of a snare drum seemed to fill every square inch of the theater.
Tortoise – Hackney Church, Wednesday, November 4
As Tortoise took the stage, they launched straight into “Night Gang,” the droning outro to Touch, their first album in nine years. The core members are now spread out in different cities and no longer record in freewheeling jam sessions squeezed into John McEntire’s Soma Electronic Studio, so it felt like a luxury to watch them move as one organism on stage. They have been playing for nearly four decades now but they still have it, not missing a beat during the interlocking time signatures of “Glass Museum,” and throwing sweat-soaked towels in the corner after hammering away at “Ten-Day Interval.” Doug McCombs’ bass remains loud enough to make the tip of your nose tingle.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
