DM Stith, London Hoxton Hall

May 20th 2009

The Victorian concert hall at Hoxton doesn’t hold many gigs. This is a shame because it is a small, intimate but ornate little venue; the multi-platformed stage complete with red curtains and a couple of rows of little balconies on either side give the impression of a big space having been compressed into this tiny room. Since the hall is a relatively small yet high space, the sound was excellent. It leant itself perfectly to the atmospheric, occasionally hypnotic songs and voice of DM Stith, and his five piece band.

Support came from Stith’s string section. Marla Hansen plays the viola; she holds it across her front like a guitar and strums and plucks out these dainty song-stories that sound like something half way between The Milk-Eyed Mender-era Joanna Newsom and Regina Spektor. For a few songs she was accompanied by cellist Maria Jeffers and by the end of the set the rest of Stith’s band were on stage. She’s played with Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond, and the signs are that she could develop into a solo artist on her own merit, with more live experience playing her own songs.

DM Stith’s debut album, Heavy Ghost, was released earlier this year on Sufjan Steven’s Asthmatic Kitty label. It is a marked step up from his EP Curtain Speech, which appeared last year; its ambient textures created by acoustic guitar and strings are punctured by Stith’s own husky, textured voice and the occasional piano-led ballad. If we’re looking to make superficial comparisons, it’s a little bit like Antony Hegarty fronting Grizzly Bear, though Stith’s music and album deserve to be approached on their own terms; Heavy Ghost is as fully formed and free of the shadows of influence as a debut album gets.

You could have been forgiven for wondering how Stith and his band were going to recreate the atmospheres and tensions of his records on stage when they walked on, but they managed it with surprising ease. We were treated to highlights from Heavy Ghost such as ‘Pity Song’, which began sparsely with just Stith and his guitar, but quickly lurches into life with strings that move like waves and rumbling percussion. Stith’s voice is as crystal clear and flexible live as it is on record. ‘Pigs’ was another highlight, a song that seems to hint at a religious theme, though does so through a haze of doubt. Its delicate sound, with just Stith singing and fingerpicking largely, was perfectly suited to the venue.

‘Thanksgiving Moon’ built once again from humble beginnings to a breathless sing-along with the rest of his band, with Stith singing, “Is that a star?/Oh, shallow victory”. The strings-led ‘Fire of Birds’ also stood out, with all the voices and sounds coming together beautifully in an understated but still quite powerful way. Later on, he moved from the stage to a piano that was situated in the corner of the hall, obscuring him from the view of the majority of the audience but only increasing the intimacy. He sang ‘Braid of Voices’, the penultimate track on Heavy Ghost and one of its highlights; it’s a stately and devastating song, which rises to a cacophony of voices only to fall away again, leaving Stith singing his own name. The whole evening was quite unique, the songs were perfectly judged. At one point, Stith said how pleased he was to be playing in London; he’ll be back, no doubt, and don’t be surprised if it’s in bigger and bigger venues.