Tim Bowness and his band – Michael Bearpark (Guitars), Steve Bingham (Violin / Loops) and Peter Chilvers (Piano / Textures) played a private show at the Estonian Embassy in London at the request of the Ambassador, Dr Margus Laidre.
The 45 minute set opened with the no-man song, Only Rain, which was a similar arrangement to the version played live by no-man in 2008, with Steve Bingham adding layer upon layer of looped violin.
Only Rain sequed into the first of two new songs (or new / old songs, more later), in All These Escapes.
The first of two Bowness / Chilvers California Norfolk songs came next, in the glacial Winter With You. Possibly my favourite California Norfolk song (with Post-Its a close contender), Winter With You has always been a piece of sparse beauty, and it worked well in this beat-free set.
no-mans Wherever There Is Light (from the 2008 album Schoolyard Ghosts) lost none of its emotion in this stripped back arrangement, and was one of the songs that suited the other-worldy feel of the wood-panelled room where the concert was taking place.
“Walk in and out of rooms, fall in and out of love”
California Norfolk’s Days Turn Into Years was a real surprise, as it was presented as an epic 10 minute re-reading, and was subsequently very different from the album version. The song was driven by plucked violin strings, and deviated from its original arrangement about three-quarters of the way through the performance, building towards a gradual, powerful crescendo.
I always associate Days Turn Into Years with the lonely squalor of a bedsit existence, so it was a little strange hearing this particular song in the safety and comfort of the Embassy.
The third and final no-man song, Flowermouth‘s Watching Over Me, has almost become a signature tune at recent no-man / Bowness concerts, and the song has not aged at all, and I’ve yet to hear a bad performance of this song.
Unprotected was the only song from the My Hotel Year era, and was a b-side (does that term still exist?) from the Sleepwalker single. It worked well, even when shorn of all the electronica of the studio version.
The set ended with the debut live performance of Towards The Shore. This song, along with All These Escapes, was a song from Tim’s pre no-man band, Plenty. Towards The Shore, though written in the mid-80’s, is thankfully free from the midi-madness of that decade, and sounds as organic and as emotive as much recent Bowness related material.
“You swim towards the shore,
just as she drowns again.”
Towards The Shore was another song that is likely to be a staple of the set-list for a long-time to come, and featured plenty (excuse the pun) of improvisation from the band, and layers of Bowness vocal loops towards the climax of the song.
2010 is shaping up to be a promising year for Tim Bowness fans, with the Plenty sessions, the ever evolving Memories of Machines project with Nosound’s Giancarlo Erra, and the first tentative steps towards a new no-man studio album.
Only Rain
All These Escapes
Winter With You
Wherever There Is Light
Days Turn Into Years
Watching Over Me
Unprotected
Towards The Shore
Many thanks to the Ambassador, Dr Margus Laidre, for hosting the event at the Embassy.
Lyrics quoted © Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness website
no-man website
Burning Shed Tim Bowness store
All pictures on this page by Charlotte Kinson
Mr Kinski's Music Shack 
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