De Affaire pt. 2 - Leafcutter John

The great lineups for Nijmegen's free week-long open-air music festival again drew me out to that historic hill where a castle keep once stood, the Valkhof park, to hear two groups. The first:

Monday, July 16, 2007, 21:45 - Leafcutter John
Leafcutter John is London-based John Burton, but here he was joined by a redheaded young lady who also sang and assisted with various noises as well as a melodica. Unfortunately I didn't catch her name. Again, the sound crew didn't do the best job... but it was very pleasant nonetheless. A classical guitar, laptop, voices, and an arsenal of noise-making trinkets (including a metal slinky) blended wonderfully, assisted by various loops, to create folk or singer-songwriter based songs. Noisy interludes and improvisational moments brought a special atmosphere to John's beautiful songs. The electronic aspect was nice, but the melodies on guitar and vocals were really what stood out. At times his melodies were reminiscent of Radiohead... Highlights included an improvised song about a horse named Stephen Hawkins at the crowd's request, as well as a moment when they invited a little boy named Boris from the audience to join them on stage and play a slide whistle. Oh, and the slinky of course! I tried to take a couple of videos, but the sound came out very mediocre. At least it looks nice, right? I suppose the photos turned out ok.