Review: CHRIS WHILE AND JULIE MATTHEWS WITH VINCENT'S CHAIR: ADELAIDE FRINGE2018 at Church Of The Trinity

Reviewed by Ray Smith, Thursday 15th March 2018.

Chris While and Julie Matthews return to the Trinity Sessions as part of their 2018 Australian tour, supported by the local trio, Vincent's Chair.

Kathie Renner and her trio, Vincent's Chair took to the stage at 7.30 in front of a full house, in the beautiful Church of the Trinity venue. Renner sang her own compositions accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and keyboards while ably supported by some masterful playing by Karen De Nardi on viola and Sam Leske on acoustic guitar.

Renner has an easy and comfortable stage manner and held the audience with her storytelling as well as her songs. She seemed to be channelling Joni Mitchell in one of her pieces, while De Nardi pulled sounds out of her viola that seemed impossible, and Leske danced along his fretboard, subtly underlining Renner's lyric.

It was an excellent performance and I was surprised to hear that this was to be their last gig. After seventeen years of playing together, they have gone out on a high and, as Kathie Renner said to me after their performance, "sometimes you just know that it's time".

Chris While and Julie Matthews are British folk music royalty. Winners in the Best Duo category at the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and nine times nominated since 2001 in the Best Duo, Best Song, and Best Live Act categories, they can now add the Port Fairy Folk Festival Artists of the Year 2018 award.

After playing and touring together as a duo for 24 years, their on-stage communication is almost invisible but very finely tuned as they effortlessly swap the role of narrator between songs, never leaving the audience hanging but still allowing time for retuning or instrument changes. The stories themselves, sometimes humorous but often very serious, are about inspiration and the very reasons that a song is written, and allow the audience an insight into the actual process of songwriting. Many of the songs performed are from their most recent album, Shoulder to Shoulder.

Matthews's song, The Black Dog, is a very personal and revealing work about depression, and the fact that she shared her inspiration for writing it, was such an honest and courageous thing to do.
"This is Chris's song", she said, explaining that when someone is feeling low they need a good friend, or a cat, or a dog, but the line, "You and your big heart pulled me through" was aimed squarely at Chris While. While responded pointing at Matthews, "she's my cat".

Amongst the northern English dialect lessons and the witty and easy banter with the audience and each other, the songs stand out as beautifully crafted and complete works that are delivered with great sincerity, excellent instrumental backings and two of the most superb voices blending in luscious harmonies.

While's song about forced child migration, Pinjarra Dreams, tells the story of the thousands of children sent to 'the Colonies' from the UK, and how many siblings were separated and their names changed so that they had virtually no hope of ever reuniting.

The song is part of, The Ballads of Child Migration: Songs for Britain's Child Migrants, a specially commissioned collection of fourteen songs by leading British folk musicians, which visitors can listen to at certain points in the exhibition and which are contained within this CD.

The title refers to the Fairbridge Farm School in Pinjarra, Western Australia, where hundreds of children were forced to go, and relatively recent investigations have uncovered the systematic sexual, physical, and emotional abuse that they endured.

In the song, While takes the role of one of the hundreds of children that suffered in that dreadful place, and his innocent dream of escape; "I wish I had a boat, I would row it back to England and if I had a friend, he'd row the boat with me...". There was not a dry eye in the house including mine.

A strong sense of social conscience runs through many of the duo's works and the song, Are We Human, is no exception. It asks the questions to which we don't seem to want the answers, and the line, "Use their numbers, not their names, make it easier to explain. It's a pity, it's a shame, but all the same, we are an island but are we human?" resonates as strongly on our island as that of the UK.

Released in 2015, all the proceeds from this song are going to the charity MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station, www.moas.eu), a registered foundation dedicated to preventing loss of life at sea. One of the musicians on this recording is our very own Liz Frencham, on double bass. The single can be downloaded at circuitsounds.uk

Tonight's concert was everything we have come to expect when Chris While and Julie Matthews walk onto a stage, exquisitely crafted songs delivered with great passion and sincerity, brilliant musicianship from the two multi-instrumentalists, superb singing, and hearts wide open. It was breathtakingly good.

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