We’ve had the barefooted, beach-haired, acoustic troubadour in our sights since the 2014 released single ‘Window To The Sky’, but Kim Churchill’s nomadic storytelling has never felt more at home than in his latest live show setup; The One Light One Mic Tour.
“ The whole project is a statement of liberation of taking control of your life and making larger decisions towards your own autonomy and sense of strength and direction of life. ”
Exactly as it sounds, Churchill’s ability to silence crowds with his unorthodox tunings and buttery vocal dialect has taken to the stage in an ‘unplugged’ fashion. The stage, garnished with a single dangling light bulb and 1930s condenser mic, creates a space so incredibly private, yet inviting all the same.
Touring the second release of a four EP project [I Am Forgetting The End Again], Churchill explores the relationships we foster with music, both in a recorded and live setting. The tracks on these EPs hit home like a one on one conversation. They speak to ideas of growth, and accepting the tumultuous spectrum of general wellbeing. Through these themes we are led to a place of vulnerability within ourselves, as a collective audience, which in turn is mirrored in the philosophy of Churchill’s current show concept. Unshielded by heavy effects and light shows, we are invited into a space fairly uncommon in mainstream performance practice.
And what a treat it is.
The Sydney leg of this tour took place in Low 302, a hidden gem in Surry Hills. A real crack in the wall type venue, which seemingly fits these values of musical intimacy and connectivity to a T. This interest in musical intimacy is one that obviously resonates with a quite a lot of people; even with the standing capacity of the venue being small [about 80 max], it was still sold out. There’s nothing quite like being completely silent in a venue like this. Absent from the occasional murmurs and handbag rustling that you’d find underscoring the majority of larger shows, Low 302 was absorbed completely by Churchill’s sonic pallet alone.
I think I’d describe Kim Churchill as an architect of Australian folk and blues respectively. From the vocal rasps he can conjure, the funk rhythms and harmonica solos, to the intricacies of his guitar lines, honesty of his lyrics and conversational humility, the sonic landscape Churchill covers is a vast one.
But his virtuosity isn’t clouded by airs of ego, it is a brutally honest sound that taps directly into what it means to be alive. Well, it does for me anyway.
“The whole project is a statement of liberation of taking control of your life and making larger decisions towards your own autonomy and sense of strength and direction of life” [Kim Churchill on the 4 EP project].
This links directly to the autonomy of music listening and the respect for its ephemerality.
The show at Low 302 demanded your attention, and for about 2 hours I couldn’t take my eyes off of the stage. The lack of technology and amplification reeled the gig into a completely new entity of experience; one which is not as welcome in modern performances as it perhaps should be. Audiences were subsequently appealed into taking control of their consciousness and awareness of space; not only was there a lack of technology on stage, but also off the stage. I think I could count on one hand, how many phones I saw being reached for to take a photo or video of the show.
There was this sense of togetherness and oneness that I have never truly experienced at a gig before. This is a testament alone to the space that Churchill created.
I truly hope to see this one light one mic setup find its place within the narrative of Churchill’s touring career. It’s bloody spectacular.
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