Live Review: Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory, Markus Popp

29 November 2013 | 11:54 am | Guido Farnell

Offering a mysterious and almost magical experience, Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory hypnotise with the glorious, celestial reach of their music.

Markus Popp, of Oval fame, takes his place in front of a laptop and starts to pull from it the most luxuriant and experimental electronic sounds. Popp seems to have moved on from clawing at the musical DNA of pre-recorded music to create new music from layered fragments of sound, in favour of playing virtual instruments in a space conjured by software. As always, Popp's music has a subtle fluidity about it. He uses controllers to manipulate a virtual jazz trio to create sonic sculptures that sound familiar, but, by accessing parameters to control the sound that only software affords, he is able to navigate a path to something that sounds completely alien and abstract. It's hard not to come away from Popp's set and wonder whether we should consider that the laptop has evolved into a musical instrument in its own right, or whether it's a device best left for social networking.

Last year Pantha Du Prince revealed a fascination for metallic chiming tones when he collaborated with The Bell Laboratory to produce the experimental techno album Elements Of Light. During this current visit to Melbourne, Pantha Du Prince was awarded the unique opportunity of playing a solo set of his tunes on the wondrous Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr a couple of days prior to tonight's show. This scribe was fortunate enough to be there and, from these bells, he elicited light, dreamy textures that were framed by beats and subtle electronics. Unexpectedly, a highly original take on minimal tech was presented, which proved the perfect primer for tonight's show.

Showcasing Elements Of Light takes a similar concept but produces vastly different results. The Bell Laboratory is a five-piece orchestra of bells and Melbourne Recital Centre's stage is strewn with all manner of exotic-looking bells, gongs and chimes. They ceremoniously hit the stage playing simple melodies on handbells before moving on to their respective workstations. At the centre of the stage, Pantha Du Prince drops beats and soft electronic effects while The Bell Laboratory strike all manner of metal objects to produce shimmering tones that move from abstraction to gentle, melodic lullabies. It's completely mesmerising to watch this outfit. They work a massive carillon of bells, use violin bows across metallic surfaces to produce intriguing sound textures, drop piano house-like chords on a marimba and even derive melodies from hammers on chimes. The outfit work simple melodies that concentrate on repetition with great restraint while Pantha Du Prince provides driving beats, which ground proceedings to a distinctly Detroit-techno aesthetic. They inspire the impulse to dance while placing the idiom in an entirely more classical context.

In a live setting, Elements Of Light works as a symphony comprising a few movements. It doesn't sound like a collection of dance tracks. Offering a mysterious and almost magical experience, Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory hypnotise with the glorious, celestial reach of their music.

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