Concert by Still House Plants and Jairus Sharif & Mustafa Rafiq

Mar 15, 2025
Field:

Performance

 Location:

Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front

 Time:

8:00 p.m.

Description:

Since forming at the Glasgow School of Art in 2015, Still House Plants, the London-based trio of Jess Hickie-Kallenbach (vocals), Finlay Clark (guitar), and David Kennedy (drums) have developed one of the most idiosyncratic forms of art rock, capable of containing free improvisation and neo-soul. From a bare-bones set-up of vocals, guitar, and drums, they draw on sampling and slowcore to eschew conventional song structure.

For their concert at Western Front, Still House Plants performed songs from their album If I don’t make it, I love u (2024). Ebbing and surging with flickering rhythms and raw emotional candor, Hickie-Kallenbach’s guttural voice carved lucid melodies out of fragmented and looped phrases. As in their recordings, Still House Plants’ live performance cultivated a distinct interplay between irregular grooves and spontaneous artistry, finding intimacy in repetition and release.

The evening opened with a forty-minute set by Jairus Sharif & Mustafa Rafiq. Together, the improvising duo blended guitar, saxophone, and spoken word, using a range of effects pedals to create a soundscape that spanned drone, noise, and jazz.

Curated by Aki Onda.

Presented with the support of the Government of Canada and SOCAN Foundation.

Jarius Sharif stands holding a saxophone to his mouth, cheeks filled with air. Behind him, Mustafa Rafiq sits playing a guitar. The space is lit with bright red light.
Mustafa Rafiq is singing with a microphone close to his mouth while seated on a chair. A bright red light is projected onto him. Behind him, a blurred line of audience members is seated.
Jarius Sharif is playing a saxophone held in his left hand while bending over a guitar pedal and adjusting a knob with his right hand. The stage is lit with bright red light.
Jarius Sharif stands holding a saxophone to his mouth, cheeks filled with air. Behind him, Mustafa Rafiq sits playing a guitar. The space is lit with bright red light.
Jarius Sharif energetically plays the saxophone, tilting the instrument up as he arches his back. Next to him, Mustafa Rafiq sits playing an electric guitar. The stage is washed in an orange glow.
Still House Plants perform on a stage in front of a row of antique wood chairs. Finlay Clark stands playing an electric guitar, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach stands at the center singing while holding a microphone, and David Kennedy sits playing the drums. The stage is warmly lit.
Still House Plants perform on a stage in front of antique wood wainscotting. Finlay Clark stands playing an electric guitar and gazes over at Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, who belts into a microphone at centre stage. On the other side of her, David Kennedy gazes down at his kit in concentration as he plays drums.
Finlay Clark gazes down at the strings of his blue electric guitar. Next to him, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach sings into a microphone with her eyes closed. The two musicians are cast in a stark white spotlight that casts high contrast shadows.
Finlay Clark plays electric guitar and looks over at Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, who stands singing with her eyes closed and hand to her chest.
Finlay Clark stands at the front playing an electric guitar, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach sings into a microphone beside him. David Kennedy is seated at a drum kit on the right side of the frame. The band performs on a stage with a Persian rug. Heritage wood wainscotting lines the wall behind them.
Finlay Clark stands on the left playing an electric guitar and looking toward the center. Jess Hickie-Kallenbach stands in the middle, singing into a microphone with her eyes closed. David Kennedy is on the right, seated at a drum kit and playing. Heritage wood wainscotting and a row of chairs line the wall behind them, which is lit by a warm spotlight.
Mustafa Rafiq, Aki Onda, Jarius Sharif, David Kennedy, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, and Finlay Clark stand side by side on the stage in the Grand Luxe Hall.

Related People

Captions:

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.

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