Last weekend I walked through the peaked doors of St John’s Church in Canton for the very first time, armed with tickets to hear Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Siôn Russell Jones.
As venues for gigs go, the church is unusual and beguiling. Renovated in 2009, it now boasts a small stage as well as a kitchen, with new impeccably clean toilets, making it perfectly suited to hosting regular gig nights and concerts.
Last Saturday saw each front-facing pew filled, low lighting providing an intimate atmosphere, even in the vastness of the grand church. The gig began with a set from Little Arrow who filled the venue at once with dramatic, earthy music, lyrics conjuring up the seascape of Pembrokeshire, where the band is from. Though not all members were present, Little Arrow’s often haunting and sumptuous music was all encompassing.
Here’s what they sound and look like, when they’re not in a church:
A pause in proceedings after Little Arrow’s set allowed the audience to filter back to the kitchen-end of the church, where volunteers manned the wine and nibbles, asking simply for donations in return.
Brigyn were to follow, and took to the stage to perform a polished set of both English and Welsh-language songs. The two brothers from Snowdonia are best known for their Welsh-language music, and Brigyn shone in this capacity with their finely tuned harmonies and elegant lyrics.
When Siôn Russell Jones came to play, the happily glutinous audience, filled with wine, crisps and music, were delivered a shot of adrenaline. With fast fingerpicking style songs set against slower, gorgeous melodies void of all pretentiousness, each song instilled in the audience a kind of musical reverence for the red-haired bespectacled figure.
Taking advantage of the church’s spectacular acoustics, the singer at one point left the mic behind to perform with soaring volume (to his sound man’s great despair) in the aisle. Here he is in action doing just that, proving that all this man needs is his voice and a guitar:
The next musical event at St John’s will be the launch of violist and composer Bernard Kane’s debut album, Hiraeth: Longing for Home
Canton Cuttings 