Simon and Alon played an excellent gig in Shine in Dublin last night. Their 35 minute slot was the last of three, and by the time we’d waited for the football (being shown downstairs) to end and the music to start it was already getting quite well on in the evening, and Quasimodal finally started playing at about 23.40.
Their music draws a large influence from the modal harmonies of the music of Restoration England, and in mood generally ranges from sad, through somber and into melancholy. The poetry set is often the work of Simon’s sister, Catherine MacHale, mainly in English, but there was also an Irish text. The set also included two songs in Hebrew.
The texts and music are not all gloomy, however. Or particular note was an excellent upbeat setting of a Shakespearean sonnet, including a recorder solo in the style of the time!
All in all an excellent evening’s entertainment. I look forward to hearing more from Quasimodal.