On Monday the 4th of May, we had the pleasure of supporting Alan Sparhawk and his band. Everything was brought together by Heartnoize promotion who put on some of the best shows in Prague. They organise concerts in a lot of different venues all over the city. You know you can trust them to put on a great show and judging by the turnout last Monday, everybody does. I recently visited their show for Claire Rousay at Villa Winternitz and it was perfect, the setting and the artist worked perfectly together. This time they invited us to KD Krakov, which is an old culture centre right on top of a hill, up in Bohnice. As we drove up the winding road to get there I had a feeling we were in the south of France, if the south of France had colourful communist style blocks of flats everywhere and half refurbished, half grubby shopping centres. The venue was characterful inside, a wooden box where no doubt a million people had danced to czech cover bands into the night, drinking and scanning the crowd for the next eligible batchelor to dance with… tonight there would only be one cover, but I’ll get on to that later.

We played our set and there was a great atmosphere in the room, no doubt in anticipation of seeing Alan. Lukáš of Tropical Cell Sound has started doing the sound for us and it makes everything so easy, we can worry about what we are sending through the microphones and cables and not what’s coming out the other side. We played two new songs, ’12 Faces’, which is about a time-capsule buried near the river Thames and one untitled track that I’m currently writing the lyrics to. I managed to forget the lyrics to ‘He Left at Dawn’ which is probably the song I have sung most in my life… but that’s what being anxious will do to you. I was nervous not only because it was a big crowd, but also because I knew somewhere in the building was Alan Sparhawk.

I first heard Alan Sparhawk at Beseda u Bigbítu. It had been a rainy day, I was tired and in a terrible mood, for some reason I didn’t feel as if I wanted to listen to anything. I just wanted to sit down and fade away. Mára convinced me to at least come and sit next to the stage. I had heard of Low and probably heard some of their songs on the radio but had never got to listening to them properly. As I approached the stage, Alan and his band (consisting of his son Cyrus on Bass and Eric Pollard who used to play in Low, now on drums) had just begun to play the second half of their set. I was drawn in and took my place in front of the stage, forgetting that I was ever tired. It was one of my favourite concerts of last year.

It’s a strange thing trying to explain how you felt during concert after it has happened; I often seem to have a kind of amnesia, the kind where you can't even quite grasp what just went down, but you know that somewhere along the way it either left something stewing in you heart or didn't change anything at all. It’s like a taste left on your tongue after a delicious (or not so delicious) meal. The feeling I felt last Monday, listening to those beautiful songs, I can still feel lingering.

Alan’s music, as he joked himself on stage, is often simple, with lots of repetition… but it is never tiring.  It is filled with energy and life; the good and the painful. They walked on stage at KD Krakov and immediately we knew that everything was going to be alright… at least for an hour. I really appreciated the dynamics of the show, from loud noisy jams, to quiet heart-breaking (and healing at the same time) songs, to a groovy cover of ‘Liquid Love’ by Roy Ayers. I think it’s an incredible thing to see three people on stage and hear such a full sound; Alan, Cyrus and Eric all sing in perfect three part harmony, with beautiful tone and energy. You cannot help but feel as if your brain is ascending upward as their voices blend and fill the room. It was such a pleasure to play on the same stage as them and to get to talk to them, they are the loveliest, warmest people.

Thanks to Heartnoize, to Alan, Cyrus and Eric.

We are forever greatful that such beautiful music is being created, performed and appreciated.