Summerisle Stramash Ensemble / Gazelle Twin and Nyx at the Barbican Hall, London, June 2023 – And so we find ourselves, a couple of days on from the Summer Solstice, gathering in the concrete brutalism of London’s Barbican (where a heron surveys us from the roof top as we sit awaiting the opening of the hall). We’re here to celebrate fifty years of something that has grown to become quite a legend, we’re here for Musics from Summerisle and “a live performance celebration of the 50th anniversary of the legendary British cult horror film The Wicker Man”.

The evening starts with Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts performing a specially commissioned folk song suite entitled G-AXZN: a dark ambient journey over Summerisle so we’re told, the piece sets the mood rather well, the harmonium player Jem Finer alongside  Roberts, the title of the piece refers to aircraft used while making the original film (and there’s a whole tale about that in itself, the curse of Wicker Man?)

And then, with no real fanfare, no big introduction, and big band, an ensemble, a big base drum centre stage, flowers in hair, and then, with very little ceremony, we’re treated to a live performance of the excellent Wicker Man soundtrack, music performed by the specially-assembled Summerisle Stramash Ensemble featuring Jon and Bobbie Seagroatt (Comus), David Colohon (United Bible Studies), Alison O’Donnell (United Bible Studies/Mellow Candle), Jem Finer (Local Psycho/The Pogues/Longplayer), Joolie Woods (Current 93/The Mekons) and Alasdair Roberts, with vocals from the original soundtrack singer Lesley “Daisy” Mackie.  The soundtrack itself has as much of a cult following as the film itself, tonight the pieces are performed with little fuss or bother, just the pieces, very little else is required, no talking, no introductions, no visuals save for a large backdrop image. We might have expected the film to be running in the background or some kind of performance but no, nothing like that was needed. The pieces are played with a wonderful spirit, they weren’t too tight, it feels right that they’re not “perfect”, not over rehearsed, that the songs and the pieces are played with a charm, that the excellently named Summerisle Stramash Ensemble kind of felt like a band does on the first night of a tour – it felt like a glorious labour of love, a joy, a privilege  

Of course it is impossible to hear Summer is A-Comen In without wanting to swing your arms or sing hopefully of a Dodo (rather than cuckoos), to not cast a thought toward Mr and Mrs Smith, towards Bill Drake, you do want to join in rather that sit passively, it all very formal, we are very much the seated audience and they the band on the stage, some are more than politely content with that, others are clearly itching to join in, to embrace the ritual. The fact that the Stramash Ensemble are not perfect adds to the delight of it all

The original rather British film, 1973’s gloriously strange and at times (very) dark The Wicker Man drew from Britain’s pagan past, and indeed its music – the soundtrack is brilliant, fusing a traditional feel, traditional old songs with new pieces, with strongly folk flavoured bawdy pub singalongs, it is now widely recognised as a classic, a word of mouth bootleg trade of both the music and fifth-hand VHS copies of the actual film (that I first recall seeing sometime in the 70’s, without any knowledge or warning, just after Match of The Day on the BBC late on a Saturday night). Paul Giovanni’s excellent soundtrack is widely available now, once again we owe Johnny Trunk a big thanks and we the audience collectively know it well enough to anticipate pretty much all of it. There’s a warmth in the hall, a shared delight, the film might well be rather dark, disturbing, the horrified noise of the animals (rather than the very straight-laced policeman), but there is a delight, a psychedelic English/Scottish folk delight, and yes there is a strong sense of that counter culture element, the whole thing is very 1973. Tonight, fifty years on, it is clear that the performance is an organic labour of love, that the players have a strong affection for the wonderful mixed bag of music, the oddball eccentricity of it all, no part ever at odds with another. The performance is a triumph, the whole thing greeted with loud cheers at the end, the packed audience united in the delight of it all and oh god and Fireleap and Maypole, and in the woods there grew a tree and yes, excellently perfomed.   

In the Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle wood and Cows after calves make moo and yes, a wonderful performance, but where’s Gazelle Twin? We had got (maybe wrongly) the impression that Gazelle Twin and NYX were part of the support cast, the Moment they ease into their take on Blake’s Jerusalem, it is obvious that no one can follow them on to the big Barbican stage, not that there are headliners, but they do need to headline. They look spectacular, mysterious in the red and white smoke, the rich redness of the light, the seven of them there in the darkness, Tonight, they’re performing an evolved Deep England, music from an album that is already one of the vital releases of this century. The bill is inspired, the perfect way to follow the Summerisle Stramash Ensemble, this is a weighty performance after the delights (and the darkness) of Summerisle.

There’s so much depth, to what Gazelle Twin and NYX are doing together now, they’re going even deeper, it feels spiritual, it feels important, it is very now, a deep deep England, it is a stunning performance. It is post Brexit England, it is a land where things were “much better in my day”. Choral, reflective, angelic, dark, clever and yes, the Wicker Man’s Firetrap is part of Deep England as well. This feels very special, this performance, this coupling, the inspired bill, the three performances. Take the flame inside you. there’s a hushed awe for Gazelle Twin and the women if NYX, the audience, themselves bathed in the reds of the lights, faces glowing, pin-drop silent as the ritual of Deep England unfolds.

These arrangements of Deep England are just about perfect, the mocking of Much Better in My Day almost a warning, something wicked this way comes. Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. By the pricking of my thumbs as the reds get deeper, stronger. it is impossible to take your eyes off the seven figures on stage, the darkly lit women, we can hardly see them in the dark reds, but we can’t take our eyes off the seven dark mysterious (dare I say almost witchy) figures, a strength together up on the stage, perfectly placed, perfectly drenched in the reds, deep reds.   

And the fact that is all happened in the 70s brutality and the concrete of the Barbican is something just right, you know that up there in the darkness the heron is still watching as we leave, as we come out and check our phones to see if one warlord has overthrown the other in Russia while we were inside not so much watching the performance as soaking it up and letting it get inside us.  Is there anyone more compelling than Gazelle Twin right now? “Bloody hell” said my companion, “just wow!”

The Summerisle Stramash Ensemble were wonderful, Gazelle Twin and NYX were just wow!  Brilliant celebration in just the right place…  (sw)