Many years ago a friend recommended a Saturday afternoon music event at the Union Chapel. He thought I might like the mix of music. That event was Daylight Music and the event has been a big part of my weekend ever since.

If you are not aware, Daylight Music is a music series that started at the Union Chapel 15 years ago. It always aimed to bring an eclectic range of music to willing ears, both young and old. Daylight curate interesting lineups that feature everything from classical to indie, folk to jazz, experimental electronic music to sitar.

Since lockdown, the series has faced new challenges. The Union Chapel is no longer available and it has faced a challenging time building new audiences in new venues across London. Through constant crowdfunding and grants from the Arts Council, it has continued to bring its unique mix of accessible music to a number of new venues in London. It has even extended its reach, bringing events to venues in Kent.

While the Union Chapel is an amazing building, Daylight has managed to find some equally wonderful and charming new venues. I guess it’s London home is now St John’s in Leytonstone. But it regularly uses St John’s in Bethnal Green and St Catherine’s in Telegraph Hill. Grand Junction and St Matthias have also hosted events. In Kent, it has found a wonderful home in the homely The Hot Tin in Faversham, which has become one of my favourite venues anywhere. They have also hosted events in the Arc in Margate. This weekend, for its 15th birthday, they venture to a new venue, St Mary Magdalene Church in Islington and on Sunday, the Arc.

While the loss of the Union Chapel has made life more difficult building a regular audience and finding volunteers to help run the events. It has been an opportunity to bring music to new audiences across London and to work with new people who have the same passion to discover music as the Daylight team. They’ve even partnered up with the London Jazz Festival to challenge the jazz-heads with their eclectic approach to music.

The word eclectic is used by people who like to put things in boxes and label them. I, like most music fans, like my boxes. I have to admit to restricting my music listening habits to music that fits in genres I am comfortable with. 

Over the years my collection of boxes has expanded. Watching a friend singing in a choir at the Proms opened the classical box. Only for me to find ‘classical’ itself is dozens of boxes defining radically different music styles, leading me off into music as diverse as Pärt and Xenakis. A band like Led Zeppelin opened the door to Blues, Blues led back to 50s rock and roll, rockabilly, and Elvis and Elvis led to… and so on. We all have a spider diagram of our discoveries and for most of us, there is a clear logical procession and it’s very rare that we jump too far from what we know we like.

So imagine an event that takes all your nice comfortably arrange boxes and throws them in the air. Putting a post-classical pianist next to a folk musician and an experimental electronic artist. That’s Daylight Music. Think of it as a genreless curated musical discovery service designed to open your ears to new music. I don’t think there is anything else like it.

But let’s back up a bit and head back to the beginning and my connection to Daylight Music.

12 years ago, I was backing away from working seven days a week, trying to become a normal person. I found gigging stopped me working and at the time, I was looking for weekend activities to keep me away from the computer. The Daylight Music suggestion came just at the right time.

The first few months, I selected sessions based on the description and I pretty much stuck to weeks where there was music in genres I was comfortable with.

To some extent things changed at the first Christmas event where the Trans-Siberian March Band were playing. I had gone along before Christmas shopping and while the Trans Siberian Orchestra weren’t really the type of music I would listen to, I thought I would call in anyway. It turned out they were just really good fun. After this, I started to go to more events, trusting the Daylight team to do the selection for me.

Ben, who runs Daylight Music spends a ridiculous amount of time putting together each season. I’ve found he is a very capable guide through these new musical landscapes. I am impressed how he sets out to curate interesting lineups each week. He doesn’t take the easy option of putting on the same artists each week. If an artist plays Daylight more than once, it’s because they have something new to contribute to the Daylight ethos. Artists regularly become the curators of their own sessions and become part of the Daylight family. Sometimes a week will have a theme. Other times, Ben is simply tries to bring great music to a wider audience.

As I attended more events, my music taste widened, admittedly, often building upon genres I had partially explored. But also new opportunities opened up and I made some good friends.

I already took a lot of gig photos. At that point, I attended around 100 gigs a year, but it was rare for me to use my SLR due to venue restrictions. As Daylight Music is relaxed, most weekends I was taking photos from the crowd. Most were just ‘snaps’ as I never took long lenses with me. However, a member of the Daylight team contacted me and asked if I wanted to photograph an event for them. Hell, why not?

Early one Saturday morning I turned with my camera bag and everything changed. Daylight Music took on a much bigger picture (no pun intended). I discovered Daylight Music is much more than a music event. It truly is an opportunity for many.

At my first event, I quickly became aware how much effort goes into Daylight Music. There is a team of volunteers who make sure this ‘pay what you can event’ happens every weekend. 

Each weekend Daylight volunteers give up their time to set up the venue, work on the door, provide a friendly welcome, supporting the artists, running the cafe, work the march desk and ensure everything is safe. A large part of the success of the series, are the volunteers who help make the events so welcoming.

The excellent sound engineers are always there very early to soundcheck each artist and with the range of music styles covered, mic’ing instruments can often be challenging. They always do an excellent job and I don’t think I have ever heard poor sound at a Daylight event.

With its inclusive policy, you will regularly see families at Daylight Music. At Daylight, no one tells children to be quiet. It gives families an opportunity to introduce children to live music and it is always a pleasure watching children come down to the front and be totally wrapped-up in a performance. Something many in the audience don’t realise, this is often the first time an artist’s children have had to see them play. How nice is that? And thankfully, because Daylight Music shows respect to families, the majority replay that respect.

From a music perspective. The music is nearly always for adults, but just occasionally, when Ben is being his most mischievous, he puts together a fantastical session that is for the child in all of us and has featured things like musical dummies, an automatic piano and even the odd event where children themselves make the music through programmes, like the School of Noise.

I have been involved with Daylight Music for over 10 years. I go most weekends. At the time or writing, it has been running for 385 sessions and I have attended around half of them. With a small team of wonderful photographers, we take turns to photograph and document each session for Daylight.

Sadly, Daylight Music is now under constant threat. It is difficult to maintain a pay what you can approach while funding these performances. Ben is constantly having to try and raise money through crowdfunding, merchandise sales (I now have so many tea towels) and Arts Council grants. If you haven’t been to a Daylight event. I really would recommend coming along to help keep these events going.

So what makes this series so special musically? I thought I would look back at some of my favourite sessions over the last few years. This isn’t an exhaustive list, all Daylight Music sessions have something for everyone and this list is missing many of my favourite Daylight Music performers who are too many to mention. Hopefully this list gives you an idea of the scope Ben brings to Daylight Music and is enough for you to give it a try.

9th November 2013 (DM146?)

I think my first event was November 2013 with Frank Chicken, Dead Flowers and Ben Calvert and the Swifts. I admit I left perplexed. I wrote a one word note on a photo of Frank Chicken from the event. It just said ‘weird’. I guess this was the perfect introduction to Daylight. It clearly didn’t put me off as I went to the next few weeks.

17th May 2014 (DM162)

My first time covering an event was in May 2014. This is when my view of Daylight started to change. I remember turning up during the soundcheck and enjoying watching the Stuart Masters play some amazing guitar music while I explored the chapel. It felt a privilege to be there listening to the soundcheck (and still does).

I have to admit early on, I very much turned up, took photos and then left. Initially my interaction with the volunteers was limited as I felt I was a guest and didn’t want to get in the way of anyone. Now, I get under the feet all the time.

My first full set is available on Flickr

1st November 2014 (DM176)

This was a good lineup. Musically, everything worked. Digitonal played classical inspired electronica, combining violin and harp. Harps always sound beautiful in the chapel and it was great to be able to photograph a harpist up close. Dean McPhee played a great guitar set. But it was Rachael that made the set so special.  She plays some enchanting folk music, often with her husband, Japanese artist ICHI.

As mentioned, I love photographing the soundcheck. The soundcheck is an opportunity to grab performance photos without disturbing the crowd with my shutter sound (although sadly, far too often artists change clothes for the live performance, and I have to get more shots anyway). What was extra special about this session was that it was the first time I saw an artist take a short timeout to prepare themselves for the event and take in the amazing space. After her soundcheck finished, Rachel literally lay down on the stage and stared at the amazing chapel roof. It was at this point that I realised that the artists themselves really love playing the space. And it’s still one of my favourite photographs.

Poppy Ackroyd (DM190, DM221, DM273)

I think the first time a Daylight Music artist took my breath away was Poppy Ackroyd.

I think Poppy had played Daylight Music before, but this was my first encounter with her music. If you are not aware, Poppy is a violinist and pianist who uses a loop pedal to build up beautiful multi-layered music.

Often with artists who use loop pedals, it feel laborious as they build up the layers and you lose interest before the piece gets goings. But that isn’t the case with Poppy. It’s fascinating to watch her move between instruments building up each layer. This was my first encounter with her and I immediately bought everything she had released an made sure I caught her solo performances.

For DM273, I was lucky enough to be photographing that weekend, so had a double dose, catching the soundcheck too. Also on the lineup was Matt Emery, a composer of some equally beautiful music who is another favourite Daylight discovery.

Daylight Music 190

Daylight Music 273

Emily Hall with Ana Silvera (DM236)

Often, the audience isn’t aware that some of the performers come together to create special pieces for Daylight Music. It happens more often than you think. These collaborations often break genre boundaries. For example last year Britten Sinfonia Academy combined with folk artists Stick In The Wheel to produce really interesting results. Other times, it’s simply the first time a piece has been played by artists and they need to tweak the performance in soundcheck.

Occasionally when this happens, it’s an honour to see a performance come together at soundcheck and the reaction of the audience. This Daylight Music session was probably my favourite session of this kind.

Composer Emily Hall was joined by the Khoros Choir and Ana Silvera to perform her music. Clearly it had been rehearsed but in soundcheck Emily was able to clarify how she wanted it performed, tweaking in little areas, improving the work ready for midday. It was clear from soundcheck that it was going to be a stunning and to this day, this is still one of my favourite performances. Okay, I know I am lucky to be around the soundcheck. But I feel so much gratitude that I get to experience these little moments and it makes Daylight Music all the more special.

Jherek Bischoff (DM252 and DM323)

I knew nothing about Jherek before I covered this event. He is an American composer and musician who has worked with the likes of Amanda Palmer. He has played twice at Daylight and both sessions featured Jherek playing bass with an ensemble.

His first session was a real pleasure. Jherek was working with an ensemble of young musicians. He had no airs and graces and was completely down to earth and a thoroughly nice person. He seemed to genuinely want to help these young musicians develop as musicians. These collaborations seem to happen regularly at Daylight Music and Ben seems to find thoroughly nice people to play his event who are interested in other artists. The music they produced reflected the warmth of the soundcheck. The bass became it’s own unique voice complementing, never competing with the ensemble. It turns out not only is he a great composer, he is also a brilliant bass player.

The second session was equally impressive. For the last three years, Daylight Music has been part of the the London Jazz Festival. These sessions are a good example of how Ben challenges our genre boxes. Jazz isn’t something I listen to very often and much of my idea of what jazz is, is constrained by the kind of jazz I hear on TV or radio. Daylight’s LJF seem to try to challenge our preconceived ideas of jazz aiming to explore the spaces where jazz is pushing against other genres creating something unique. For example, jazz overlapping with folk music and post-classical.

Jherek’s second session, was one of these LFJ events.

The lineup was as I would expect, one trying to push our ideas of what jazz is. Robert Stillman on sax and Andres Holst on 12 string guitar explored how two quite different instruments could complement each other. A young artist, Rose Frazier-Taylor stuck to a more traditional jazz sound but showed there is a new generation of artists finding their voice through jazz.

Jherek, accompanied by a string quartet combined his amazing bass tone with violins and cello to explore the dark edges of jazz, with some heavily Twin Peaks inspired music. The Wolf, a piece from his Cistern album has a Jherek’s bass acting like a possessed metronome, constantly ticking and increasing in loudness and aggression. While strings weave a dark tale around him gradually taking over the lead, as his guitar fades away into the background. I think this is my favourite piece ever to be played at Daylight.

As if this wasn’t enough. Terry Edwards, who is a great supported of the series, joined Jherek to bring an early, but very dark Christmas twist. Playing a Twin Peaks inspired version of Silent Night.

Official video from DM252: Jherek Bischoff – Cistern

8-bit special (DM256)

The 256th Daylight took its inspiration from computer music and the chapel echoed to the beeps of synths and old computers. For example Deerful, (Emma Winson) played music on gameboys. While the film composer David Julyan and Héloïse Werner combined analogue synths and cello. A perfect illustration of the risks Daylight Music takes. A simple idea excuted brilliantely and fascinating to watch.

‘The foghorn lady’ (DM267)

Now on to one of the weirdest Daylight sessions I can remember. Often the curration of a Daylight session is handed over to record labels or individuals. This session was handed over to Laura Cannell and her ‘Modern Ritual’ series.

Laura Cannell is a musician who has chosen the recorder has her instrument. Not the nasty little plastic recorders we used at school, but the classic wooden versions. Her music is always interesting and she isn’t afraid of taking her music into different environments, often supporting indie musicians playing over noisy crowds. So this session was always going to be interesting, I’m just not sure I was ready for how interesting it would be.

The sessions expored rituals through words and music. This session featured a whole bunch of weird. Charles Hayward simply drummed on a snare drum for 30 minutes. With the speed and pitch increasing and reducing. It really was something to behold. It was also something I really didn’t like! (I always skip drum solos!)

These Feathers Have Plumes, used electronics and played wine glasses to create a facinating soundscape.

Then there was the ‘foghorn lady’ as I call her. Jennifer Lucy Allan, who is the wonderful presenter of Radio 3’s Late Junction, performed ‘Foulis’s Daughter: A short history of the foghorn in 30 interrupted acts’. In the performance, Jennifer traces the history of the foghorn and performance combines spoken word with the sounds of foghorns captured round the UK. It was initially really interesting, then started to drag and it just didn’t work for me. Others though loved it.

And that is the point. Daylight Music isn’t simply trying to regurgitate music. It gives artists the chance to perform pieces that will challenge us. In this case, it didn’t connect with me. At times, it permits itself the risk to be a glorious failure by being adventurous. This session was one of them and I’m glad I was there to experience it.

From Call to Choir (DM309)

Possibly one of the most adventurous events Daylight Music has put on was ‘From Call to the Choir’. It was a simple premise. Could one singer bring the chapel to one voice?

Throughout the afternoon, starting with one singer, the size of each act grew, one became two, two because four, one choir became two choirs. A ‘scratch choir’ formed from amateur singers who only met the night before, combined with these artists, bands and other choirs to perform one large piece. Eventually for the last piece, the audience joined in. It was a thrill watching the performance build from one person up to the the entire chapel.

I photographed the rehearsals the night before and it was a pleasure to see how excited the volunteer choir were. It was also great seeing so many Daylight alumni giving up their time to make the event work. Chatting to several of the choir, many hadn’t sung before in public and were thrilled at the opportunity to sing in such an amazing venue.

This is probably the best example of what makes Daylight special. How many events would take a risk and give a composer a chance to perform a piece on such a scale and give so many people a chance to participate?

Majestic Euro-Musical Showcase Special (DM223)

I am not a fan of Eurovision. But in 2017, Ben decided to invite many of the international artists who have played Daylight to celebrate Eurovision by playing playing their own songs and covering one Eurovision song. It was great to see so many musicians collaborate to produce a great feel good event. And, the highlight was a live rendition of Father Ted’s My Lovely Horse. Unusually, I tried to capture a video to give people a favour of the event. You can tell, I’m not a videographer from the whacky clips and sound quality.

Piano Day (DM221, DM251, DM279, DM306, DM335, DM342, DM358, DM360)

For the last few years, Piano Day has been an annual highlight. Ben loves post-classical and early Daylight’s featured now world renown artist Nils Frahm who created Piano Day. It takes place on the 88th day of the year, or in Daylight Music’s case the nearest Saturday to it.

The piano is a wonderful instrument and Daylight Music always makes an effort by hiring in a baby grand piano which when combined with the wonderful acoustics of the chapel, is always special.

Some of my favourite discoveries have come via Piano Day. I have already mentioned the wonderful Poppy Ackryod, who I had already seen before a Piano Day session.

Another discovery is the talented pianist and composer, Xenia Pestova Bennett. My first experience of Xenia was when she played a tiny toy piano at her first appearance. Over different sessions, some of which she has helped curate, we have had the opportunity to see Xenia experiments with how the piano can sound. One amazing session she brought a magnetic resonance piano that sounds like an electric guitar, where each note can be held indefinitely.

What I’ve found amazing, is the often subtle ways each pianist plays the piano and interprets each piece. Often watching their hands is like watching a ballet. Each hand dancing around the keys hypnotically.

Piano day is always a special Daylight. If you want one session to try. I would always recommend a Piano Day session. They are always magical.

‘That wasn’t jazz’ (DM338)

Doing to the jazz-heads, what they’ve done to us for a long time. Since lockdown, Daylight Music has curated a number of EFG: London Jazz Festival related events. Longtime collaborator and supporter of the series, Terry Edwards, curated this event for Daylight. Featuring his excellent Near Jazz Experience, Terry decided to challenge the jazz crowd audience with a ‘near jazz experience’ leading to two people leaving after the first act telling the team on the door ‘That wasn’t jazz’.

What it was, was everything Daylight prides itself on being. BAG, the offending opening artists, mixed spoken word with various electronic sounds and music. They used vocals to deconstruct our expectations of musical structures, a bit like improvisation in jazz. With vocals speeding up and slowing down, accenting different bits of variable length sentences forcing the music to shift form. It was a fascinating performance, and I could see why it was ‘near jazz’.

Thankfully, the people who left didn’t see the next piece which would have probably been even more frustrating. Terry, with soprano Jan Goodkin and Rod Melvin, explored an idea of Terry’s that the songs of the Smiths have similarities to plainsong chants. While not jazz, a set of musicians who had never met before using their musical knowledge of plainsong to work with each other’s performance, clearly has some of the spirit of jazz.

I’ve never liked the Smiths. Or rather, I’ve never liked Smiths when sung by Morrissey. I enjoy their songs far more when covered by other bands without Morrissey’s annoying voice. But I will begrudgingly admit the music and lyrics are often brilliant. Today, stripped back to a minimalistic interpretation on the piano and Jan’s terrific singing of plainsong, the songs also gained an absurdist humour that I would never have connected to the Smiths.

The people who left would have hated it.

Continuing with the theme. Jem Moore gave us his fascinating interpretation of Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy. His bass playing perfectly complementing the darkness in the poem.

The people who left would have hated it.

Closing Terry’s curation was his own band, The Near Jazz Experience and for once there was some improvised jazz. Always musical and never inappropriately noodley, I’m sure this was more of what those two people who left were looking for. Although, I’m not sure they would have appreciated the NJE’s excellent take on Hendrix. Maybe they were right to leave after all? Me, I loved every second.

But this session was everything Daylight is. Daylight’s strength has always been its ability to challenge. Occasionally these invited curations play it safe. But more often than not, the curator rises to the challenge of selecting a range of music that embraces Daylight’s ethos. Terry’s session more than did that.

Heartbreak (DM343)

Ted Barnes curated DM343 with a theme of postcards from the artist to the audience. How they represent themselves in song. An interesting idea and one song in particular laid bare a heartbreaking moment.

There were the usual three acts. Ted Barnes, a Daylight stalwart had brought other Daylight stalwarts, the brilliant Samantha Waites and Gill Sandell (though sadly underused today). Julia Biel and Me For Queen. All complementing each other and all great.

I was photographing this one for Daylight. The other photographers were unavailable this week. I have to admit. I was hoping not to as I was trying to keep track of the final day of the Championship (Boro lost and didn’t get into the playoffs). I was expecting to take breaks from photographing to catch up on the football scores, but I wasn’t expecting to be knocked off my feet by one of the performers. It was Me For Queen’s song about her feelings after a miscarriage that was beautifully devastating. As a man, I can never understand the pain. But the song opened the door slightly on the pain and loss experienced after a miscarriage. It was truly special. It is these little moments that make Daylight so special.

A privilege (DM349)

Daylight regularly showcases young early-career artists from places like Goldsmiths and some of the feeder ensembles orchestras have. These are truly some of the most inspirational Daylight sessions. Seeing the talent of young musicians is humbling. However, one that was very special was DM349 featuring The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Experience Ensemble. The performance was simply wonderful. I felt privileged to photograph the soundcheck and see the frankly amazing tutoring of Maggie, the professional leading the ensemble. The time she gave these young musicians was great to see. She never once criticised their playing. Instead, helped each young artist find the right way to play each piece. I work in education. I’ve seen many good educators, so I know how to judge one. Maggie was inspirational. It was honestly a privilege to see behind the curtain and see the inspirational people who help turn a good musician into a great musician.

The Snow Queen: DM331

Daylight always tries new things. DM331 was something different. The entire session was given over to London Dreamtime, who along with Cunning Folk, told the story of the Snow Queen through words and music.

It was an enchanting afternoon with audience participation and lots of smiling children (and many adults) and as Hans Christian Andersen’s story vividly unfolded, Cunning Folk added songs from the likes of Bowie, Nirvana, Doors and Led Zeppelin which oddly didn’t seem out of place.

Lost Map

Closing off why I feel Daylight Music is so special. Let me introduce you to the Pictish Trail and more precisely Lost Maps Records.

As mentioned, Daylight Music regularly explores building relationships with small record labels. Lost Map is a Scottish label based on the Isle of Eigg, with a great stable of artists that has included artists such Rozi Plain, Callum Easter, Bas Jan, Alabaster dePlume, Tuff Love, Ed Dowie, plus the inimitable Pictish Trail himself.

Several of the label’s artists have played at different sessions. Every few years, Daylight effectively hosts Lost Maps’ London Christmas party. Each of these sessions is a fun event. If you have never seen the Pictish Trail, he is extremely charismatic and extremely enthusiastic about his artists. These Christmas events are usually very popular. Since Lockdown, the relationship has grown even stronger, with additional summer sessions in London and Kent.

It is these close relationships with small labels that makes Daylight so important. It provide labels and artists with an audience who are willing to listen to something new and they in return provide Daylight Music with a constant stream of new and interesting artists that keep the sessions going.

I’m sure many of these small labels appreciate the efforts Ben put in to keep Daylight Music going, allowing their artists a chance to play an amazing venue. I know I appreciate Ben bringing these artists to me.

Daylight Music is special. Come along and see for yourself and if you are feeling generous, you might want to help support the series through their regular crowdfunders or buy a tea towel! Discover more about Daylight Music at https://www.daylightmusic.co.uk

As you would expect from Daylight Music, it returned with another interesting line-up that if I’m honest, even during sound check, I wasn’t sure would work. Featuring the classical music from 97 Ensemble, experimental electronic music (and bubbles) from Greater Than the Summation, and reflective songwriting from Kay Elizabeth, the eclectic lineup showcased Daylight’s ability to mix genres without it ever feeling forced. What do I know? The lineup worked perfectly. It is so good to have the series back so that it can continue to surprise and challenge me.

As is often the case with Daylight. This was an eclectic lineup.

The School of Noise held a workshop before the concert that encouraged kids to create music using different bits of junk. It was great seeing the kids enjoy performing the piece in front of the audience and their parents joined in with a piece that involved spoken word.

Yukiko Matsukura brought a taste of Japan with some traditional Japanese songs played on a guitar

Closing the afternoon was Rosie Turton who combined trombone with modular synth.

Today’s event was focused on just two artists who then combined for a final set, The Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble and the London Accordion Orchestra. Both have played at Daylight Music before.

The pieces by the Accordion Orchestra varied from pieces that challenged my idea of the range an orchestra of accordions could offer, to pieces that sounded very ‘French cafe’.

The Guildhall Saxophone Ensemble are made up of the wonderfully talented Guildhall students. Every time they play, their talent is humbling, today was no different.

The final set, saw the two combine wonderfully. Who would have thought saxophones and accordions would work together. But they blended beautifully.

For the last seven years, Daylight Music has formed pretty much the foundations of my Saturday’s. First, it was used as the starting points of a weekend walk as I tried to get fit. Then I started to photograph the event and got involved with the Daylight team. I go most weeks, but things like football occasionally gets in the way. I’ve always stayed on the ‘paying punter’ side of the fence so that I don’t feel obliged to attend every week. (but I’m happy to help move things around when I’m there during soundcheck)

This weekend I wasn’t meant to be at the return of Daylight Music. Instead, I was meant to be doing one of the other things I was looking forward to getting back to. To see my favourite band (British) Sea Power who were playing near my parents home, giving me an excuse to kill two birds with one stone. However, a self inflicted injury to my arm, meant I was unable to drive home. So I thought I’d drop in to offer some moral support (Due to my arm, I couldn’t photograph the event)

I wrote last week about the return of the event and mentioned some of the challenges the team faced to allow the event to continue. This has meant new homes and pretty much everything being managed by the team.

Today’s event was at the first of their new homes. St John on Bethnal Green. A lovely church just outside Bethnal Green tube. The decision to continue to use a church is the right one. The acoustics in churches can be special. With Daylight Music the spaces need to be flexible enough to deal with everything from an artist playing a viol de gamba, choirs, jazz, pianists, theremins, to a loud full band performance. Pretty much anything really. The space also needs to be relaxed where people can have some tea and cake while watching the performances. Normal gigs spaces aren’t really going to provide this, while churches oddly do. Today, St John’s was more than up for the job.

The difficulty of continuing to use churches is the lack of sound systems and in the case of St John’s, there’s no cafe. When I finally arrived, there was a hive of activity with the sound engineers soundchecking the artists and volunteers setting up the cafe, ticket desk and merch desk.

It’s difficult for events at the moment. Many of us are wary of going into venue spaces. I want to see promoters require the COVID passport and/or a lateral flow test, but most aren’t. I know several venues saw low numbers for the first few events, as it took a while for people to feel comfortable with the new normality. I know I’ve still not been to my local venue because I’m not confident it will be safe and there’s one venue I have already scrubbed off my gig list. Daylight are not requiring passes, but they have asked Daylight volunteers to wear masks and also asked the audience to wear masks, at the very least when they move around the building. Plus many active churches still have social distancing in place and St John’s had signs asking people to keep rows free. Personally, I did my usual lateral flow test before heading into London and wore a fresh FFP2 mask for the whole duration. I felt relatively safe. There’s no right time to effectively launch a new music series. But it’s especially difficult under current conditions. Hopefully, Daylight will attract back it’s regulars and stay safe.

Outside the big imposing, but perfectly proportioned doors of St John’s, several familiar faces were waiting to experience the new series. It was reassuring to see people returning. I’m not sure what the numbers where like. I think it would have been a quiet MK1 Daylight. But for the first event in what is effectively a new series, it looked a reasonable number and felt a comfortable number for the space, given the current circumstances. I’m not sure I would have been as comfortable if the numbers were significantly higher. It will be interesting in coming weeks to see how the other venues fair and if they’re busy, if I will be comfortable.

Several people I’ve spoken to have said the Leytonstone venue is the easiest for them to get to, which I guess makes sense as people have moved out there as central London house prices have soared. The venue locations will clearly be a new dynamic to work with. It will be interesting to see which venue becomes my favourite. If they’re as good as St John’s, then, it’s going to be a really interesting series. It will also be interesting to see how the new £10 suggested ‘pay what you can’ affects numbers. While it seems very reasonable for what Daylight offers, others might see things differently. It’s odd how the brain works when you’re lying in bed on a Saturday deciding if you should bother getting up (just me?). An interesting experiment and one I hope works.

Just after noon, Ben Eshmade introduced the new series. Thanking everyone who supported the event through the crowdfunder. Briefly discussing the difficulties and reasons for the changes (including a new weekly programme and cashless payments!). I think many in the audience knew how hard he has worked to put on this series and his small celebration was welcomed by the crowd.

First up, Matthew Bourne and Charlotte Keeffe. Now, given the conditions. Other music series might have played it safe with their first act. Not Daylight. Matthew Bourne has played Daylight before. His last session was with the sadly departed Michael Tippett. Matthew is a pianist who likes to create experimental jazz and classical compositions. Joining Matthew, Charlotte is a trumpeter and flugelhorn improvisational player. They apparently had never met before and I assume the piece was partially improvised. I find these types of pieces in all genres, a difficult ask, because I usually lose concentration. At some points in the piece I was really enjoying it, other points I did lose concentration and struggled a bit. But for me, that’s the great thing about Daylight. It challenges me. Only Daylight would have the confidence to start with such a challenging piece. Exactly the reason why it is so special.

Next up was Andrew Plummer’s WSR REDUX. Andrew played Bourne’s Daylight curation in November 2019. Andrew tells dark tales. His deep voice backed with grubby, grungy guitar and drums. It felt like the pastor had dragged an old man who was sitting nursing a whisky in an east end boozer into church to tell the believers about life on the other side of the tracks, to ensure they didn’t stray from the righteous path. It didn’t work. The old church sounded gloriously dark and I think we all felt like straying with Andrew into his world.

The break gave me an opportunity to visit the cafe and see what was on offer. Yay. The return of sausage rolls! (The Chapel had basically gone vegetarian). The food was freshly baked by the nearby Beehive Cafe. There was a decent range of quiches, cakes, sausages rolls, and flapjacks. Prices were very reasonable. Only £2.50 for a slice of cake and £1 for a breakfast tea. Getting the quantities right will be challenging as the series moves around and I think there was food left over at the end. Hopefully, the cafe covered itself financially, because they did a great job.

With the cafe under Daylight’s control, they have introduced long overdue cashless payment – something we are all now used to and a very good move (I’ve only used cash once in 18 months). In fact only the merch desk remains cash only – but then that’s sensible as Daylight are basically taking the money on behalf of the artists

Closing the afternoon was another jazz duo, Run Logan Run. A fierce saxophone with thunderous drumming really pushed the church’s dynamics to their extreme. It sounded glorious at times as the saxophone’s wail hit the crescendo of drums, returning just the right amount of echo to make it sound really big. The church was really given a baptism of fire into Daylight Music and passed with flying colours.

So how well did the Daylight team do? They opened the doors on time. The sound was great. The cafe had good options and people were dealt with quickly. The music challenged me. The team, their usual friendly self. So brilliant really. I look forward to seeing future sessions at their new venues.

I have a bit of my normality back. Thank you Ben and the team.

*snaps taken with a pocket camera used upside down in my left hand (why are all cameras right handed?)

As we’re emerging into the real world, we’re finding many of our favourite things didn’t survive the financial hardship and our high streets are full of closed bars, cafes and shops. Despite some government support after excellent lobbying from the Music Venue Trust, we’ve even lost some music venues.

But there was something missing from governments support, support for promoters and music art series that weren’t being supported via the Arts Council funding or the venue support scheme.

I’ve written about my love of the Daylight Music series and how much I enjoy photographing events. Before lockdown, the series took place at the Union Chapel, who allowed the event to use it’s space for about 30 weekends a year. During lockdown, the Union Chapel charity disappointingly decided it would no longer be able to support the event. I suspect they’re looking at the opportunities for holding revenue generating events such as weddings. As a charity, it’s understandable that they will need to boost income after a year without the evening music events that support its activities. But I was really sad when it looked like Daylight might not continue and with it, I’d lose a large part of the structure of my weekends and have one less thing to look forward to. But it’s also a unique and vital part of London’s music scene.

Sadly, this left Daylight without a home and no easy way of applying for funds. So last summer, Daylight set up a Crowdfunder to generate the upfront income they would need to try to put this on at new venues. Important to Daylight, was to try to stay true to it’s principles of creating a welcoming space where people can ‘pay what they can’ and come along, relax with tea and cake and listen to an amazing range of music genres.

Thankfully, the Crowdfunder was successful. It was great to see how many other people agreed with me that Daylight is worth saving. The funding has allowed Ben Eshmade, the force behind the series, find new homes, (yes plural!) book artists and source sound systems. It’s all change as almost everything will now have to be done by the team of volunteers, even keeping true to the ‘tea and cake’ tag line means sourcing food and running a cafe (previously run by the Union Chapel’s Margins Project)

After many months of trying to piece together the programme and delayed reopenings, this weekend finally sees the return of Daylight Music with the fantastic Matthew Bourne. There’s some necessary changes such as the recommendation for ‘pay what you can’ to be £10 as the series has to now generate the income to book future events. But it’s also an opportunity to try new things. The most obvious innovation is that it’s now going to move home between three venues, bringing Daylight to new areas of London. But there’s other innovations such as a Season ticket and as the venues are smaller than the previous home, booking in advance. I can’t wait to see what the Daylight team come up with.

This week’s venue, St John on Bethnal Green, probably won’t be a new venue to regular gig goers as it’s often used for evening gigs. It’s a lovely, 200 year old, Sir John Sloane designed church, just outside of Bethnal Green tube station. I’ve always found it to have beautiful acoustics and is utterly charming. I’m sure Matthew Bourne’s piano will sound glorious.

Staying true to Daylight’s principles of easing your guilt for indulging in cake at lunchtime. Much of the cafe food will be provided by the nearby ‘The Beehive’ cafe which is part of the Bethnal Green Mission Church.

Following weeks, Daylight heads off to St John The Baptist’s Church, Leytonstone and then Grand Junction, a new venue based at St Mary Magdalene Church in Paddington. I can’t wait to photograph music in these new venues. One of the other Daylight photographers has visited them and they all look fantastic.

It all sounds exciting and I can’t wait. It will be so good to finally put back a piece of the jigsaw of my pre-pandemic life and great to see an important piece of London’s music scene return. If you’ve not been to a Daylight Music event. What better time to start?

Venues

There’s three new venues for this season.

St John on Bethnal Green
200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green
https://www.stjohnonbethnalgreen.org
Miap: https://goo.gl/maps/2Ty9ub1crtuHh2QZ6

St John’s Leytonstone
High Rd, Bushwood, London E11 1HH
https://www.stjohnsleytonstone.church
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Dh9kQnPAXLb8gswc6

Grand Junction
Rowington Cl, London W2 5TF
https://www.grandjunction.org.uk
Map: https://g.page/grand-junction?share

Events

11 SEP
334: Hi, How Have You Been? with Run Logan Run, WSR Redux, Charlotte Keeffe & Matthew Bourne
Daylight Music – St John on Bethnal Green
https://fb.me/e/11pZiUR62

25 SEP
335: Metamorphosis & Transmutation with Elliot Galvin, Yshani Perinpanayagam + Kerry Yong
Daylight Music – St John The Baptist’s Church, Leytonstone

https://fb.me/e/5flAFuMKi

16 OCT
336: …a Sense of Belonging with Bex Burch & Kim Macari, Maria Grapsa + Ell Kendall
Daylight Music – Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene’s
https://fb.me/e/RLHxTT9l

30 OCT
337: A Lost Year with Késia Decoté & Charlotte Botterill, Plumm & Marysia Osu + School of Noise
Daylight Music – St John’s Leytonstone

https://fb.me/e/2nhOSeTyK

13 NOV
338: EFG London Jazz Festival – Daylight Music: Terry Edwards with the Near Jazz Experience, Jan Goodkin & Road Melvin, Jem Moore, + Bag THE NEAR JAZZ EXPERIENCE, JAN GOODKIN & ROAD MELVIN, JEM MOORE + BAG
Daylight Music – St John on Bethnal Green
https://fb.me/e/23Z1OmZRj

20 NOV
339: EFG London Jazz Festival – Daylight Music: Hackoustic presents Luka,XYZ & Aby Vulliamy, Alya Al-Sultani & Gawain Hewitt, Tom Fox and Samuel Sharp
Daylight Music – St John The Baptist’s Church, Leytonstone
https://fb.me/e/2mLVsosjO

4 DEC
340: London Dreamtime presents Baba Yaga or Can Fairy Tales Be True?
Daylight Music – Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene’s
https://fb.me/e/4xsBs0k3U

11 DEC
341: Lost Christmas: Dude, Where’s My Card?
With Pictish Trail, Molly Linen And Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business.
Daylight Music – St John on Bethnal Green
https://fb.me/e/KaEmjD9x

Something different for this week’s Daylight Music. The entire session was given over to London Dreamtime, who along with Cunning Folk, told the story of the Snow Queen through words and music.

It was an enchanting afternoon with audience participation and lots of smiling children (and many adults) and as Hans Christian Andersen’s story vividly unfolded, Cunning Folk added songs from the likes of Bowie, Nirvana, Doors and Led Zeppelin which oddly didn’t seem out of place.

About 7 years ago, a friend recommended a Saturday afternoon music event at the Union Chapel. That event was Daylight Music and the event has been a big influence on my weekends ever since.

If you are not aware, Daylight Music is an eclectic music series that runs at the Union Chapel for about 30 weekends each year. Music covers everything from classical to indie, folk to jazz, experimental electronic music to sitar. This ‘pay what you can event’ opens at midday and it welcomes families.

The word eclectic is used by people who like to put things in boxes and label them. I, like most music fans, like my boxes. I have to admit to often restricting my music listening habits to music that fits in genres I am comfortable with. 

Over the years my collection of boxes has expanded. Watching a friend singing in a choir at the Proms opened the classical box. Only for me to find ‘classical’ itself is dozens of boxes defining radically different music styles, leading me off into music as diverse as Pärt and Xenakis. A band like Led Zeppelin opened the door to Blues, Blues led back to 50s rock and roll, rockabilly, and Elvis and Elvis led to… and so on. We all have a spider diagram of our discoveries and for most of us, there is a clear logical procession and it’s very rare that we jump too far from what we know we like.

So imagine an event that takes all your nice comfortably arrange boxes and throws them in the air. Putting a post-classical pianist next to a folk musician and an experimental electronic artist. That’s Daylight Music. Think of it as a genreless curated musical discovery service designed to open your ears to new music. I don’t think there is anything else like it in London.

Let’s back up a bit and head back to the beginning and my connection to Daylight Music.

7 years ago, I was backing away from working seven days a week, trying to become a normal person. I had found gigging stopped me working and I was at the time, looking for weekend activities to keep me away from the computer at weekends. The Daylight Music suggestion came just at the right time.

The first few months, I selected sessions based on the description and I pretty much stuck to weeks where there was music in genres I was comfortable with.

My first event was in November 2013 and it was also my first time attending a daylight gig at the Union Chapel. I instantly fell in love with this amazing venue. But initially. less so with Daylight!

Based In Islington, the Union Chapel has a pretty middle class catchment area. I know it’s my problem, but I still find it difficult being around the middle classes. Even after 30 years of living in the South, I often still feel like an imposter if the density of middle class people is too high and this is after all based in Islington, and I admit at first, I took my prejudice into the event and I allowed it to feel a bit alien to me.

Oddly, my first Prom had the opposite effect. Because of ‘Last Night’, I was so sure everyone would be dressed-up, I was mightily relieved when everyone was dressed normally, so I only experienced a very short-lived uncomfortableness (plus my friend sang an Thomas Adès piece that had the word ‘fuck’ in it, which seemed very un-Prom-like).

To some extent my comfort with Daylight Music changed at the first Christmas event where the Trans-Siberian March Band were playing and everything seemed a bit more relaxed. I had gone along before Christmas shopping and while the Trans Siberian Orchestra weren’t really the type of music I would normally listen to, they were just really good fun. I’m not sure why, I think it simply because this was busier, but it felt different and I started to feel more comfortable with this Islington Chapel.

Around this time, I also decided I had to lose weight. Yes I know, lots of info here, but context is everything. I decided at weekends I was going to start to explore London on foot and going to Daylight Music forced me to get up and catch the train into London, ready for my afternoon walk. In doing so, I stopped selecting sessions based on my genre boxes and handed curation of my musical discovery to Daylight Music…… And so started a new musical adventure.

Daylight Music runs for about 30 weeks each year and is split into three seasons. Ben, who runs Daylight Music spends a ridiculous amount of time putting together each season. He has a much wider knowledge of music than me and I’ve found he is a very capable guide through these new musical landscapes. I am impressed how he sets out to curate interesting lineups each week. He doesn’t take the easy option of putting on the same artists each week. If an artist plays Daylight more than once, it’s because they have something new to listen to, they never come back to play the same set as before. Sometimes a week will have a theme. Other times, Ben is simply trying to bring great music to a wider audience.

As I attended more events, my music taste widened, admittedly, often building upon genres I had partially explored. But also new opportunities opened up and I made some good friends.

I already took a lot of gig photos. At that point, I attended around 100 gigs a year, but it was rare for me to use my SLR due to venue restrictions. As Daylight Music is relaxed, most weekends I was taking photos from the crowd. Most were just ‘snaps’ as I never took long lenses with me. However, a member of the Daylight team contacted me and asked if I wanted to photograph an event for them. Hell, why not?

So early one Saturday morning I turned with my camera bag and everything changed. Daylight Music took on a much bigger picture (no pun intended). I discovered Daylight Music is much more than a music event. It truly is an opportunity for many.

At my first event, I quickly became aware how much effort goes into Daylight Music. There is a team of volunteers who make sure this ‘pay what you can event’ happens every weekend. 

I quickly realised, Ben is providing an opportunity to many talented artists to play one of the best venues in London who otherwise would never have the opportunity. Inspiring both audience and the artists.

Each weekend Daylight volunteers give up their time to set up the chapel, work on the door, provide a friendly welcome, support the artists, make sure they are looked after, work the march desk and ensure everything is safe.

The excellent sound engineers are always there very early to soundcheck each artist and with the range of music styles covered, mic’ing instruments can often be challenging. They always do an excellent job and I don’t think I have ever heard poor sound at the Union Chapel.

I also discovered the effort the Chapel staff and their volunteers put in each weekend to ensure the cafe run by their Margins Project feeds and waters the Daylight audience. Generating funds for the Chapel’s homeless projects. The chefs are usually already hard at work when I arrive about 9.30. If you have not been to a Daylight Music session, then one thing you should know is the food, especially the cakes are amazing. Almost all the food is vegan friendly (I did say this was an Islington crowd, didn’t I?) What more can you ask? Music, tea, cake and a warm fuzzy feeling.

Most importantly I realised this wasn’t a music event for the ‘middle class Islington audience;. This was a vital cultural event that supported so many good causes. My initial prejudice masking the wide range of people who attend.

With it’s inclusive policy, you will regularly see families at Daylight Music. At Daylight, no one tells children to be quiet. It gives families an opportunity to introduce children to live music and it is always a pleasure watching children come down to the front and be totally wrapped-up in a performance. Something many in the audience don’t realise, this is often the first time an artist’s children have had to see them play. How nice is that? And thankfully, because Daylight Music shows respect to families, the majority replay that respect.

From a music perspective. The music is nearly always for adults, but just occasionally, when Ben is being his most mischievous, he puts together a fantastical session that is for the child in all of us and has featured things like musical dummies, an automatic piano and even the odd event where children themselves make the music through programmes, like the School of Noise.

It has also been a great pleasure to discover how many people, who like me, attend regularly and are happy to put themselves in Ben’s capable hands. You find them dotted around the chapel sitting in their favourite place, reading a book, sketching, eating their pack lunches, or simply enjoying the music. Daylight Music seems to attract people who love music and find the relaxed atmosphere in the chapel and the ‘pay what you can’ policy means they don’t feel excluded from live music. Something for Daylight Music to be proud of.

I have been involved with Daylight Music for nearly 6 years. I go most weekends. At the time or writing, it has been running for 10 years and 330 sessions and I have attended around 150. With a small team of photographers, we take turns to photograph and document each session for Daylight. Often, when it’s my turn to photograph the session, I try to capture the spirit of the event and I try to capture the volunteers who help make this great event happen. I feel it’s important people understand why this event is so vital.

So what makes this series so special musically? I thought I would look back at some of my favourite sessions over the last few years. This isn’t an exhaustive list, all Daylight Music sessions have something for everyone and this list is missing many of my favourite Daylight Music performers who are too many to mention. Hopefully this list gives you an idea of the scope Ben brings to Daylight Music and is enough for you to give it a try.

9th November 2013 (DM146?)

I think my first event was November 2013 with Frank Chicken, Dead Flowers and Ben Calvert and the Swifts. I admit I left perplexed. I wrote a one word note on a photo of Frank Chicken from the event. It just said ‘weird’. I guess this was the perfect introduction to Daylight. It clearly didn’t put me off as I went to the next few weeks.

17th May 2014 (DM162)

My first time covering an event was in May 2014. This is when my view of Daylight started to change. I remember turning up during the soundcheck and enjoying watching the Stuart Masters play some amazing guitar music while I explored the chapel. It felt a privilege to be there listening to the soundcheck (and still does).

I have to admit early on, I very much turned up, took photos and then left. Initially my interaction with the volunteers was limited as I felt I was a guest and didn’t want to get in the way of anyone. Now, I get under the feet all the time.

My first full set is available on Flickr

1st November 2014 (DM176)

This was a good lineup. Musically, everything worked. Digitonal played classical inspired electronica, combining violin and harp. Harps always sound beautiful in the chapel and it was great to be able to photograph a harpist up close. Dean McPhee played a great guitar set. But it was Rachael that made the set so special.  She plays some enchanting folk music, often with her husband, Japanese artist ICHI.

As mentioned, I love photographing the soundcheck. The soundcheck is an opportunity to grab performance photos without disturbing the crowd with my shutter sound (although sadly, far too often artists change clothes for the live performance, and I have to get more shots anyway). What was extra special about this session was that it was the first time I saw an artist take a short timeout to prepare themselves for the event and take in the amazing space. After her soundcheck finished, Rachel literally lay down on the stage and stared at the amazing chapel roof. It was at this point that I realised that the artists themselves really love playing the space. And it’s still one of my favourite photographs.

Poppy Ackroyd (DM190, DM221, DM273)

I think the first time a Daylight Music artist took my breath away was Poppy Ackroyd.

I think Poppy had played Daylight Music before, but this was my first encounter with her music. If you are not aware, Poppy is a violinist and pianist who uses a loop pedal to build up beautiful multi-layered music.

Often with artists who use loop pedals, it feel laborious as they build up the layers and you lose interest before the piece gets goings. But that isn’t the case with Poppy. It’s fascinating to watch her move between instruments building up each layer. This was my first encounter with her and I immediately bought everything she had released an made sure I caught her solo performances.

For DM273, I was lucky enough to be photographing that weekend, so had a double dose, catching the soundcheck too. Also on the lineup was Matt Emery, a composer of some equally beautiful music who is another favourite Daylight discovery.

Daylight Music 190

Daylight Music 273

Emily Hall with Ana Silvera (DM236)

Often, the audience isn’t aware that some of the performers come together to create special pieces for Daylight Music. It happens more often than you think. These collaborations often break genre boundaries. For example last year Britten Sinfonia Academy combined with folk artists Stick In The Wheel to produce really interesting results. Other times, it’s simply the first time a piece has been played by artists and they need to tweak the performance in soundcheck.

Occasionally when this happens, it’s an honour to see a performance come together at soundcheck and the reaction of the audience. This Daylight Music session was probably my favourite session of this kind.

Composer Emily Hall was joined by the Khoros Choir and Ana Silvera to perform her music. Clearly it had been rehearsed but in soundcheck Emily was able to clarify how she wanted it performed, tweaking in little areas, improving the work ready for midday. It was clear from soundcheck that it was going to be a stunning and to this day, this is still one of my favourite performances. Okay, I know I am lucky to be around the soundcheck. But I feel so much gratitude that I get to experience these little moments and it makes Daylight Music all the more special.

Jherek Bischoff (DM252 and DM323)

I knew nothing about Jherek before I covered this event. He is an American composer and musician who has worked with the likes of Amanda Palmer. He has played twice at Daylight and both sessions featured Jherek playing bass with an ensemble.

His first session was a real pleasure. Jherek was working with an ensemble of young musicians. He had no airs and graces and was completely down to earth and a thoroughly nice person. He seemed to genuinely want to help these young musicians develop as musicians. These collaborations seem to happen regularly at Daylight Music and Ben seems to find thoroughly nice people to play his event who are interested in other artists. The music they produced reflected the warmth of the soundcheck. The bass became it’s own unique voice complementing, never competing with the ensemble. It turns out not only is he a great composer, he is also a brilliant bass player.

The second session was equally impressive. For the last three years, Daylight Music has been part of the the London Jazz Festival. These sessions are a good example of how Ben challenges our genre boxes. Jazz isn’t something I listen to very often and much of my idea of what jazz is, is constrained by the kind of jazz I hear on TV or radio. Daylight’s LJF seem to try to challenge our preconceived ideas of jazz aiming to explore the spaces where jazz is pushing against other genres creating something unique. For example, jazz overlapping with folk music and post-classical.

Jherek’s second session, was one of these LFJ events.

The lineup was as I would expect, one trying to push our ideas of what jazz is. Robert Stillman on sax and Andres Holst on 12 string guitar explored how two quite different instruments could complement each other. A young artist, Rose Frazier-Taylor stuck to a more traditional jazz sound but showed there is a new generation of artists finding their voice through jazz.

Jherek, accompanied by a string quartet combined his amazing bass tone with violins and cello to explore the dark edges of jazz, with some heavily Twin Peaks inspired music. The Wolf, a piece from his Cistern album has a Jherek’s bass acting like a possessed metronome, constantly ticking and increasing in loudness and aggression. While strings weave a dark tale around him gradually taking over the lead, as his guitar fades away into the background. I think this is my favourite piece ever to be played at Daylight.

As if this wasn’t enough. Terry Edwards, joined Jherek to bring an early, but very dark Christmas twist. Playing a Twin Peaks inspired version of Silent Night.

Official video from DM252: Jherek Bischoff – Cistern

8-bit special (DM256)

The 256th Daylight took its inspiration from computer music and the chapel echoed to the beeps of synths and old computers. For example Deerful, (Emma Winson) played music on gameboys. While the film composer David Julyan and Héloïse Werner combined analogue synths and cello. A perfect illustration of the risks Daylight Music takes. A simple idea excuted brilliantely and fascinating to watch.

‘The foghorn lady’ (DM267)

Now on to one of the weirdest Daylight sessions I can remember. Often the curration of a Daylight session is handed over to record labels or individuals. This session wsa handed over to Laura Cannell and her ‘Modern Ritual’ series.

Laura Cannell is a musician who has chosen the recorder has her instrument. Not the nasty little plastic recorders we used at school, but the classic wooden versions. Her music is always interesting and she isn’t afraid of taking her music into different environments, often supporting indie musicians playing over noisy crowds. So this session was always going to be interesting, I’m just not sure I was ready for how interesting it would be.

The sessions expored rituals through words and music. This session featured a whole bunch of weird. Charles Hayward simply drummed on a snare drum for 30 minutes. With the speed and pitch increasing and reducing. It really was something to behold. It was also something I really didn’t like! (I always skip drum solos!)

These Feathers Have Plumes, used electronics and played wine glasses to create a facinating soundscape.

Then there was the ‘foghorn lady’ as we call her. Jennifer Lucy Allan performed ‘Foulis’s Daughter: A short history of the foghorn in 30 interrupted acts’. In the performance, Jeniffer traces the history of the forgon and performance combines spoken word with the sounds of foghorns captured round the UK. It was initially really interesting, then started to drag and it just didn’t work for me.

But that isn’t the point. Daylight Music isn’t simply trying to regugitate music they know everyone will like. It give artists the chance to perform pieces that will challenge us. In this case, it didn’t connect with me, or some of my friends. At times, it permits itself the risk to be a glorius failure by being adventurous. This session was one of them and I’m glad I was there to experience it.

From Call to Choir (DM309)

Possibly one of the most adventurous events Daylight Music has put on was ‘From Call to the Choir’. It was a simple premise. Could one singer bring the chapel to one voice?

Throughout the afternoon, starting with one singer, the size of each act grew, one became two, two because four, one choir became two choirs. A ‘scratch choir’ formed from amateur singers who only met the night before, combined with these artists, bands and other choirs to perform one large piece. Eventually for the last piece, the audience joined in. It was a thrill watching the performance build from one person up to the the entire chapel.

I photographed the rehearsals the night before and it was a pleasure to see how excited the volunteer choir were. It was also great seeing so many Daylight alumni giving up their time to make the event work. Chatting to several of the choir, many hadn’t sung before in public and were thrilled at the opportunity to sing in such an amazing venue.

This is probably the best example of what makes Daylight special. How many events would take a risk and give a composer a chance to perform a piece on such a scale and give so many people a chance to participate?

Majestic Euro-Musical Showcase Special (DM223)

I am not a fan of Eurovision. But in 2017, Ben decided to invite many of the international artists who have played Daylight to celebrate Eurovision by playing playing their own songs and covering one Eurovision song. It was great to see so many musicians collaborate to produce a great feel good event. And, the highlight was a live rendition of Father Ted’s My Lovely Horse. Unusually, I tried to capture a video to give people a favour of the event. You can tell, I’m not a videographer from the whacky clips and sound quality.

Piano Day (DM221, DM251, DM279, DM306)

For the last few years, Piano Day has been an annual highlight. Ben loves post-classical and early Daylight’s featured now world renown artist Nils Frahm who created Piano Day. It takes place on the 88th day of the year, or in Daylight Music’s case the nearest Saturday to it.

The piano is a wonderful instrument and Daylight Music always makes an effort by hiring in a baby grand piano which when combined with the wonderful acoustics of the chapel, is always special.

Some of my favourite discoveries have come via Piano Day. I have already mentioned the wonderful Poppy Ackryod, who I had already seen before a Piano Day session.

Another talented disovery is Xenia Pestrova. My first experience of Xenia was when she played a tiny toy piano at her first appearance. Over different sessions, we have had the opportunity to see how Xenia experiments with how the piano can sound. One amazing session she brought a magnetic resonance piano that sounds like an electric guitar, where each note can be held indefinetly.

What I’ve foud amazing, is the often subtle ways each pianist plays the piano and interprets each piece. Often watching their hands is like watching a ballet. Each hand dancing around the keys hypnotically.

Piano day is always a special Daylight. If you want one session to try. I would always recommend a Piano Day session. They are always special.

Pictish Trail

Closing off why I feel Daylight Music is so special. Let me introduce you to the Pictish Trail and more precisely Lost Maps Records.

As mentioned, Daylight Music regularly explores building relationships with small record labels. Lost Map Records is a Scottish label based on the Isle of Eigg, with a great stable of artists such as Rozi Plain, Callum Easter, Bas Jan, Alabaster dePlume, Tuff Love, Ed Dowie, plus the inimateble Pictish Trail himself. All have their fan base, but none of them would be able to sell out the Union Chapel.

Several of the label’s artists have played at different sessions. But every few years, Daylight effectively hosts Lost Maps Christmas party. Each of these sessions is a fun event. If you have never seen the Pictish Trail, Johhny is extremely charismatic and extremely enthusistatic about his artists. These Christmas events are usually very popular.

It’s these close relationships with small labels that makes Daylight so important. It provide labels and artists with an audience who are willing to listen to something new and they in return provide Daylight Music with new and interesting artists that keep the sessions going.

I’m sure many of these small labels appreciate the efforts Ben goes to keep Daylight Music going, allowing their artists a chance to play an amazing venue. I know I appreciate Ben bringing these artists to me.

Daylight Music is special. Come along and see for yourself.

Daylight Music takes place at the Union Chapel at midday on Saturday’s. It is a ‘pay what you can’ event, with a suggested donation of £5. For more information see www.daylightmusic.co.uk