SANAM + VAN ZON – THE CON CLUB, LEWES 18.8.24
My first and only time attending the homely Con Club in Lewes was to see the band Caroline back in February of 2022. I vividly remember falling in love with them as they supported The Microphones in Hackney a couple months prior and being moved to bits by their sound. Seeing them again in the Club’s atmosphere kept me locked within walls of avant-folk and experimental rock music explorations capable of captivating me to no end. And now, after two and a half years away from the Con Club, I’m back for a taste of the post-folk, poetry and Arabian auras of Sanam.
Originating from Beirut, these guys are a six-piece that incorporate all manner of rock, avant-garde and folk, fresh off of the enjoyment brought to them from the release of their 2023 debut album, ‘Aykathani Malakon’, which translates to “an angel woke me”. The band were born out of a chance invitation to perform alongside Hans Joachim Irmler from krautrock titans Faust in 2021 at the Irtijal Festival in Beirut before congregating in a house in Lebanon to record the album the following year. Influenced by the various improvisation sessions spent with Joachim, the record resulted in a steady encapsulation of the band’s core sound of drone music, Arabian poetry, post-rock and avant-garde folk that tapped directly into the homegrown values of the sextet.
Now, the support act is one that I’ve already had the privilege and thrill of seeing live before at The Hope & Ruin during the ‘Homegrown Festival’ some time ago, and that is the five-piece Van Zon, a group that has recently enjoyed the release of debut single ‘Cannon Fodder’, one of my favourites of the year so far. Their music explores the free folk and experimental rock leanings of artists like Richard Dawson and Black Country New Road, with a more pastoral edge over the latter. They approach the stage with calm equilibrium, assembling their places behind their instruments which include violin, guitar, clarinet and synth alongside the steady proponents of bass guitar and drums. Already, on the opening drones to the track ‘O Messiah’, the Richard Dawson influence on frontman Charlie West comes through as the balance of the arrangements in the band’s instrumentation reminds me a lot of some of the pacier moments on Dawson’s ‘Peasant’ record.
We hear Charlie begin to sing, with a soft and somewhat casual delivery before the track’s tonality begins to turn sinister, with a repeating guitar chord hanging in the backdrop within this great soundscape painted by the band, particularly violinist and backing vocalist Mina-Mae Alexander, whose operatic vocals, paired with her violin passages are beautifully ethereal, it almost hurts! The closing section of the track brings the soundscape to an oddly uplifting and anthemic place, with a chord progression not unlike the last leg of Richard Dawson’s ‘The Hermit’, albeit with more rhythm and drive.
The second of the four long tracks of the set is currently untitled, but does not mess around with its composition and arrangement; first, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Scott-Warren sets the mood marvellously with his clarinet atop some synthetic and mystical drones in the opening moments before the band engage in a momentum that feels more akin to post-rock than their free folk stirrings. Before long, a violin and clarinet motif that has been circulating for most of the middle portion of the song mutates into a 5/8 melody that completely reorients the feel, bringing the performances to a screeching halt at the finish.
‘More Than Happy’ is a great track to showcase the rest of the band’s instrumental and vocal talents as Mina-Mae takes vocal lead duties alongside backing from Charlie and bassist Lottie Skala. Van Zon being Van Zon, the track treks through several musical passages, all of which seemingly disparate yet cohesive at the same time, beginning with a skipping drum rhythm from Ewan Vellinga, whose ride cymbals pair with Charlie’s guitar lines. The mood begins to darken with tone, key and time signature changes before heading towards a bittersweet nirvana in the song’s final moments.
As Charlie announces the last song, there is a distinguishable sigh of upset from the audience, but he reassures them that the track they’re about to play is very long! This track, ‘Cannon Fodder’, begins with some fluttering cymbals and noodling guitar drones before Charlie heads into the song’s main motif. The track’s 6/8 groove and rustic approach reminds me of something that Caroline could conjure up, that is until the sound design turns disjointed and heavy in places when Charlie dements his guitar parts to no end. The closing leg of the song starts to build a more downtempo groove, with drones rising in timbre (in a very Godspeed You! Black Emperor manner) and Charlie engaging in screaming vocals that shakes the crowd to their core.
Hearing Van Zon in a wider context was absolutely staggering to witness live and I had to congratulate Daniel on an immaculate performance, praising the Richard Dawson influences (of which he confessed to being a huge fan).
Van Zon:
Charlie West – guitar, vocals
Lottie Skala – bass, vocals
Mina-Mae Alexander – violin, vocals
Daniel Scott-Warren – clarinet, synths
Ewan Vellinga – drums
Van Zon setlist:
‘O Messiah’
“Untitled”
‘More Than Happy’
‘Cannon Fodder’
In less than half an hour, the room began to gather tightly for Sanam, in all their might and majesty, with Farah Kaddour beginning the performance of their album’s title track, ‘Aykathani Malakon’, with a solo on the buzuk (also known as a buzuq), before the rest of the band enter with flourishes and drones on their respective instruments. Sandy Chamoun begins to sermon the crowd with her Arabian prose, atop modular synth textures from multi-instrumentalist Anthony Sahyoun. This track is a meditative tonesetter that seamlessly transitions into the following track, ‘Mouathibatti’, which opens with a slow and patient drum groove from Pascal Semerdjian and some sliding bass notes from Antonio Hajj Moussa. This track still maintains a somewhat serene surrounding from the sextet, as they all engage in steadily quiet dynamics, cautiously adding to their arrangements.
However, the following track, ‘Bell’ begins to break that meditation down, with a much more krautrock-infused groove put in place, with hypnotic melodies led by Farah’s buzuk. As the mood intensifies and the band reaches a fever pitch of distortion bringing the song to a close, the audience go berserk for the band, leading to one middle-aged man in the back of the venue proclaim “oh god!”.
A bowed guitar drone in D from Anthony in the introduction to ‘Ya Nass’ is halted by a heavy tom rhythm that feels tribal in execution alongside some esoteric guitar work from lead guitarist Marwan Tohme. Some of the most exciting live instrumentation moments in the band’s set happens here, most notably at a point where Anthony records loops of Sandy’s vocals and begins to twist and jitter them about with his modular synth.
The oddly lounge-like bass and guitar lines on the unreleased ‘Habeybon’, is a beautifully soft moment in the set, with some flourishing buzuk melodies and koto samples on Anthony’s keys adding to the arrangements wonderfully. ‘Rings’, the closing track from the album, is possibly the most meditative song of the night, with various brittle motifs and flutters from the band setting the tone, led by the synths before Sandy sings over some reverberated guitar textures. The anchoring drones of the piece begin to thicken before Pascal enters some free form drum breaks that are a joy to watch live!
