Apparat

Out in the wilds of Hove, in the beautiful environs of All Saints Church (as a non-believer, it remains a pleasure to visit these architectural mini-masterpieces), German electronica artist Apparat’s sold out show seemed impressively appropriate on first listen; building crescendos, glistening waves of textured sounds, aided and abetted by the bespoke looking projecting contraption, meticulously operated by two assistants/visual artists plus the very occasional vocal, unintelligibly delivered by Sascha Ring (who is Apparat). Utilising a mix of percussion, guitars, string instruments, digital and analogue synths and sound boards, the five piece ensemble bobbed and nodded their way through a number of pieces billed as Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre), a musical distillation of a stage adaptation of Tolstoy’s War And Peace, for which Apparat were commissioned. Musically ‘four square’ in its approach, with the rhythmic and trance-like echoes of Philip Glass and Penguin Cafe Orchestra throughout, the music typically progressed and diminished becoming at times a wall of intense sound, losing some nuances in the process. Meanwhile, the fluid, if rather conceptual visuals, added interest, if not much understanding.

All Saints Church, 13 May 2013

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