live reviews: Mathilde 253 at Freedom of the City, London

Mathilde 253: Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo copyright 2012 Andrew Newcombe.
Mathilde 253 (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo © 2012 Andrew Newcombe.

In his review of this year’s Freedom of the City festival, Tim Owen at Dalston Sound calls Mathilde 253’s set on May 6 “one of the punchiest performances”:

…A trio featuring ex-This Heat drummer Charles Hayward, electric guitarist Han-Earl Park and trumpeter Ian Smith. Hayward was playing at his most impressionistic, Smith’s trumpet correspondingly all smears and blurs, offset by Park’s scrabble of overlapping notes and smears…. Park and Smith were the new discoveries of the festival for me; names to add to the must-see list, for future reference. [Read the rest…]

Han-earl Park (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo copyright 2012 Scott McMillan.
Han-earl Park (Freedom of the City, London, May 6, 2012). Photo © 2012 Scott McMillan.

Meanwhile, Scott McMillan at The Liminal points out the “youthful energy and invention”:

Han Earl-Park’s idiosyncratic guitar style was beguiling, his array of tiny, sharp sounds glinting like fragments of broken glass – the interplay between him and trumpeter Ian Smith was almost telepathic, changing directions as one, and the music coming to two seemingly unplanned and instinctive dead stops. [Read the rest…]

More photographs of FOTC: [Andrew Newcombe’s…] [Scott McMillan’s…]

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