Other Voices 2013 Dingle - Day Three: Emotional, uplifting and powerful

There was no better man to bring the St. James’ Church events to a close than Mr. John William Grant.

He stole the show in London earlier this year with his searing honesty. Over the weekend, he stole our hearts in many ways.

Firstly, at Banter on Saturday where Grant talked to Jim Carroll with an honesty that is as stark as it is welcome, as it is in his songs. He talked of having a big heart, of not being able to let things go, of being a hospital interpreter who translated for Russian patients who wanted to reach out to them outside work hours, of having a heart caked in shit, of not knowing whether he was being childish in his pursuit of music-making or just plain deluded.

He was neither. Grant’s answers to Carroll’s questions were really extended monologues, the man is a direct truth-speaker, a sage with a big heart who, now 44, has lived through serious adversity including drug addiction, alcohol abuse, HIV and has pertinent knowledge to impart.

Every day is a fight to remain who he truly is - to “get the fuck out of my own way” as he calls it. It’s a sentiment expressed in ‘Glacier’, a highlight of stripped-down set in the church on the last night. The song tells you to be who you are no matter what people are telling you to be. It’s a simple message but delivered in such a powerful way by Grant. “This pain / It is a glacier moving through you/ And carving out deep valleys / And creating spectacular landscapes.”

It’s a highly emotional performance, a tear-jerking triumph. There are few lyricists who unfilter themselves quite as much as Grant. Much of his recent album Pale Green Ghosts addresses the breakdown of a key relationship. Grant goes much further than most in baring his hurt and attacking his former lover on songs like ‘Vietnam’ and ‘It Doesn’t Matter To Him’ even though he knows he’s being harsh and unfair. But he doesn’t filter himself because he’s human and to feel those emotions is as human as you can get. That’s why he is one of the best songwriters we have right now. What a treat it was to have him in Dingle with us this weekend. As Other Voices’ series producer Philip King said, Grant and the Sunday night was “emotional, uplifting and powerful.”

The rest of the night’s performances weren’t overshadowed by Grant but lead up to it in a pleasing fashion. All but one utilised the big Steinway grand piano in the room, a production necessity that meant tonight’s proceedings featured lots of elegant piano chords. By the time the show airs, these performances will be dotted about on different programmes in the series so it will be less obvious to the viewer.

The composer David Arnold is renowned for his work on scores and soundtracks particularly the James Bond franchise so his short piano public performance was something of a rare extra-curricular novelty for him. We got the unique experience of a composer playing his songs without the marquee singer.

At Banter earlier that day, he spoke of how his work is usually received by the audience after the fact in the cinema when he’s not present. His performance was an effort to engage directly with the audience and he equipped himself well. And he was funny too - “I know what you're thinking, George Michael's really let himself go,” he quipped.

Arnold has a fine voice himself though he won’t admit it easily, which is understandable when you’ve worked with some of the greats. The renditions of Casino Royale’s 'You Know My Name' with Arnold instead of Chris Cornell and ‘No Good About Goodbye’, a song from Shirley Bassey’s recent 2009 album were a fascinating peek behind the film score curtain.

Danish pianist, singer and songwriter Agnes Obel’s music is equally filmic in her own orchestral way. We learn before the cameras turn on that she hasn’t seen her homeland’s popular TV show Borgen as she lives in Germany now, much to series producer Philip King’s surprise, as he introduces her.

Her set was impossibly beautiful soothing music by an impossibly beautiful lady. She was joined by cellist and violinist who were a versatile backup to her elegant piano playing. They used their bows to create rhythm and percussion, using a loop pedal to sustain a single booming drum beat during one song from recent album Aventine.

Not to be outdone, she uses two scarves volunteered from the audience as a dampener on her piano for the title track from that album. There’s plenty of songs from her 2010 album Philharmonics with ‘Riverside’, her biggest hit to date really striking a chord in the cosy room. A song about not having words to explain something is appropriate, as Obel’s music does that to people.

There’s a fine three-song introductory set from Samantha Crain, an Oklahoma singer-songwriter who cites Songs:Ohia’s Jason Molina as a key influence. She often writes songs her bright and earnest songs to him. He died earlier this year and she dedicates 'For The Miner', a song reminscent to U2’s ‘One’ to him.

She gets a big cheer over the Dingle crowd by using that classic trick of replacing a place name, in this case, Manitoba, with the place she’s in. She was trying to win us over but she didn’t have to. We were already on her side.

Further north in Iceland, Ásgeir’s (pronounced like Ausgeer) full-band set bring us all full circle to the John Grant connection (Grant lives there now and his band are also Icelandic). Much has been made of the fact that 10% of the Icelandic population has bought Ásgeir’s debut album on CD. It’s not David Gray White Ladder levels of support but it is impressive 30,000 or so people.

His lush folk recalls Fleet Foxes if they came from colder climes. There is some icy electronics in the mix but it’s the beautiful soft “esss” Icelandic pronunciation. as subtle as an iceberg that gets us. "Soldier" becomes "scholdyur", and we’re schmitten.

Photos by Rich Gilligan: