Patrick Wolf w/Edward Larrikin – Laugharne Weekend Festival 28/03/08

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Friday 28th March, the opening night of the Laugharne weekend, featured intimate performances from Edward Larrikin and Patrick Wolf. First up was Edward Larrikin, the singer of now-defunct Larrikin Love. Larrikin offered a handful of bright acoustic jaunts, sounding, at times, a little like a half mellowed-Peñate and half Jeff Magnum (Neutral Milk Hotel) minotaur.

The twenty-one year old, pale-faced pixie ended his fleeting fifteen minutes with ‘I Wasn’t Even There’, a simple-yet-clever melodious chant based on a conversation between Lucifer and an angel. With a cheeky, possibly nervous, impromptu chuckle and a quick foot-stomp of relief, Larrikin shyly shuffled off the tiny Millennium Hall Stage to the applause of many who seemed previously unaware of his work.

After a few minutes break, Larrikin’s stunted shadow was replaced by the statuesque silhouette of six-foot-tall, skyscraper-like Patrick Wolf. Dressed in a red checked shirt, black below-the knee shorts and monochrome shoes that were so handsome that they deserved to be danced in, Wolf slowly strolled to centre-stage while tuning his violin. A quick chat with the crowd followed by a sneaky mouthful of whisky led him into ‘Brother John’, a new song played beautifully on an old piano. As the chords began to dampen, Wolf gave a characteristic howl before drifting into another new song, this time one of Irish descent, sang in delicate and intricate Gaelic.

With a short-lived attempt to play a worn acoustic guitar in the moody ‘Bargheist’, Wolf reclaimed his crown of musical talent with ‘Ghost Song’. The harmonium resting on the gentle giant’s lap secreted gentle groans as Wolf provided charmed vocals intertwined with effortless percussion from his toes tapping against the wooden stage. A heavy, touching cover of PJ Harvey’s gloomy ‘Angelene’ hollowed through the hall, transforming midway into a minor rendition of ‘The Stars’. Despite the darkness of the songs, Patrick Wolf’s wide, school-photo grin kept the audience from feeling even the slightest bit glum.

The underlying melancholic tone to the setlist ceased to shift as Wolf sang his broken heart out from behind the mournful piano with ‘Damaris’, another newly crafted masterpiece. Not even this moving tale of death caused by a doomed love affair could snatch the audience’s attention away from the magnificence of Wolf’s elegantly sculpted voice. An old favourite, ‘Wind In The Wires’, polished off the endearing performance with a bittersweet fusion of discord and melody on a well-loved, duct-taped ukulele. From the glittery aura and beaming smile, it seemed as though Patrick Wolf enjoyed playing for Laugharne as much as Laugharne cherished his warm company.

It was clear that Wolf and Larrikin were more than just two talented people in the same place at the same time. Speaking to the two musicians after the night’s events, they talked about their collaboration and their involvement with the Laugharne Festival.

How did your collaboration come about?
“I went to Vienna to record my third album. I needed to do some modern covers, and I found this demo of a Larrikin Love song, “On Sussex Downs”. It reminded me of when I was younger and I used to try to get out on Sussex Downs to clear my head. I emailed Eddy to find out what the lyrics were, because they were all gobbledygook, and we’ve been very good pen-friends ever since!”

“Yeah, there was a nice meeting of minds!”

“We’re always singing aren’t we, Eddy? When I met Edward, I really felt like I’d met a brother!”

How does playing at a festival like the Laugharne Weekend compare to what you have done in the past?

“I feel it is definitely different. It’s in the middle of nowhere to start! Personally, I prefer this so much more to playing in London with a band.”

“I have a fear of playing shows that are announced two months before the date and where tickets sell out in a week. There’s so much anticipation involved with them, but I feel a bit like anticipation is the death of creativity.”

“Patrick has just finished touring a lot with his last album, and I think we both want to start focussing on doing nice things like this.”

“Yeah. It’s important to keep your head active without advertising and promotion. I needed mental rest from touring. Doing this festival is like the opposite of promotion. It’s been kept quite secret and those who have come really wanted to be here. The fact that this is part of the Dylan Thomas weekend means people aren’t here because I’m promoting an album that I’ve just released or anything like that. There’s no expectation from people. Coming here, there’s a sense of creativity that I don’t have when I have booking agents and recording companies on my back. I used to busk and I used to like that. There were no expectations back then. People would turn up if they wanted to. People would listen if they wanted to, and it’s a bit like that here.”