Review by: Vanessa Monaghan
Henrietta Game Live On The Jeanie Johnston 24th June 2011
The noise of the rigging whipped off the mast, the gale howled and the rain beat down and we hadn’t even left port yet. Ok, we’re weren’t going to leave port but it was a horrible evening as we made our way down the quays to the Jeanie Johnston, where Henrietta Game were launching their album ‘Black Ship’.
Making our way below deck in extremely wet conditions, it became apparent that this wasn’t exactly going to be a run of the mill album launch, it was an event, a once off experience. Although this was a replica ship, wax models and fixtures told of the history of one of these famine time ships.
Henrietta Game had set up in the living quarters, a main bench in the middle of the room was surrounded by bunks at every wall. Water from the upper decks dripped down to our surroundings. As singer Christy Leech rightly said, we would get a little bit closer to our neighbours than we had bargained for.
HG are such an interesting band, they have, with seemingly effortless precision, created a timeless sound with classic instruments, glockenspiel, violin, cello and guitar. Their musicianship is top notch but it is the sheer excellence of their vocal harmonies that sets them apart from other contenders.
The four piece were joined by a drummer for the evening and opened their set with the title track ‘Black Ship’. There were the expected ‘Let’s rock the boat’ jokes from Leech and yes the boat did indeed rock. Even though we were docked on Customs House Quay, the storm outside meant that more than once during the band’s set, hands were raised to the low ceiling for balance. Normally, when at a gig, you’ll see the audience moving or swaying to the music. Here, the audience swayed out of time with the music, in time to the outside waves.The band acknowledged that the Jeanie Johnston isn’t a venue and encouraged the audience to chill out and chat, which was nice.
As an event, this was extremely interesting and probably due to our surroundings and our soggy-ness, every sense was heightened. Henrietta Game definitely used this to their advantage. In the confined space, every word, every note, every instrument seem to be intensified. The opening string section of ‘Prague’, the glockenspiel on ‘Running Out Of Time’, every single thing is heightened. Current single ‘Sleep Then’, explodes in this environment. The up tempo instrumentation is driven on by a stomp but the vocals are never over powered and the harmonies are still as vivid as previously.
The band also delve into cover territory on a couple of occasions. Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Hysteric’ is given the HG treatment, delicate vocals and harmonies and backed by strings for a slice of deliciousness. An a capella version of Rihanna’s ‘S&M’ has Aonghus Mac Amhlaigh cutely apologize to his parents in advance. He gets a great laugh when the refrain kicks in. The evening is rounded off by another inspired cover. Lady Gaga’s ‘Just Dance’ which gets the boat rocking another little bit.
Memorable evening, interesting surroundings, great performance.