Black Haine / Live in Southbank

Live in Southbank
Spotlight on Concrete Lates X Fabric event at Southbank Centre, London

Attending Southbank for Concrete Lates X Fabric event. Featuring Bitter Gold, Space Afrika, Blackhaine and JASSS.

Tonight sees the Southbank taken over not just by Fabric: But by the North. Bitter Gold sets the mood – their recent album Hllwflr features onomatopoeic tracks like “Building Site” and “Empty Train”. Space Afrika then build on this with a fluid ambient journey backed by visuals that augment this. The atmosphere culminates in spoken word monologue similar to “1-2-1” from recent album “a Grisaille Wedding”.

Blackhaine feels more at home in bleak landscapes and scarred city scapes of the North but the Southbank foyer becomes his own brutalist landscape when he inhabits it. He prowls in his customary all black sports gear and immediately refuses to accept the confines of the narrow stage ahead. The very act of climbing the steel guard rail and into the crowd feels like a contortion in his dance.

His movement has always been captivating. It is felt. Nothing is wasted or for show. Inspired by Japanese Butoh but also a spiritual successor to Ian Curtis’ honesty. It almost wouldn’t matter if the audience was here. It would not alter his honesty or intensity.

He has said as much in that whilst he wants the audience to achieve catharsis, he does not necessarily need to know that it HAS occurred. It is genuinely exciting to have him dancing amongst the crowd with his kinetic thrusts and see them go from onlookers to participants. It seems to encourage them to be a bit braver. Backed by Bitter Gold on decks. The set oscillates easily between the ambient to a more furious brand of punk that he raps over.

His latest material characterised by the long form piece “and Now I Stand on a Hill” feels even more vital in the way he has stripped back what he says in favour of delivering it in a way that makes you feel it even more. He describes it himself as a move towards the psychedelic.

The short film that goes with this work is one of the most powerful videos out there. Notable in the way it seems to move beyond his usual ties to Northern England. Where he begins curled in an embryo on a shore and navigates a more exotic terrain with his movement. It has moved on from the landscape of videos like “Saddleworth”. But it is still characterised by bleak landscape and decaying structure. It is composed of elements over branding which is what makes it so compelling.

Bathed in red light over distorted guitars and insistent drums, he screams in his unapologetically northern accent:
”Don’t ever fucking listen to them”. Scream is also an understatement as it’s not just the noise he expels that hold the force. It’s the full body convulsion that goes with it. Rocking his head back, screaming into the air and then surveying the crowd. It’s a rarity for an artist to exude such honest power. Every audience member will have left feeling slightly stronger and ready to challenge.

Although there is a bleak truth in Blackhaine’s music it also inspires us to not be so ready to accept the status quo, to present differently. Despite this political feel to it though all of this starts with the honest intention of “Saving my Life”. He does this because he has to. The next steps in Blackhaine’s evolution are going to be truly exciting.