Still Corners live in Athens

More than one month after my trip to Milano to see Blossoms, my next gig was another one of the "girlfriend bands" (ie bands I have discovered through my girlfriend). In fact, it was with her that I had gone to see them for the first time, five years before this one. Unfortunately, this time she couldn't attend while I just barely made it on time after work. What was surprising was that the venue was full and the gig was sold out. 

It's quite nice to see synth-based bands selling out gigs in Greece. Having said that, I managed to secure a space on the stairs from where I could see all the action.

Still Corners may rely mainly on synths but at the same time they manage to have a deep, American, almost southern sound. I don't know if "southern" is the correct word for it. Probably not. Maybe "Wesren". ("Californian" perhaps?) I could compare it with what Bruce Springsteen's latest album, "Western Stars" sounds like (which is a solo album, ie without the E Street Band and sounds totally different from his other albums)

This time, I didn't worry about the setlist, I just wanted to have a night out after work with soothing and relaxing music.

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I did make a new discovery, there was a song that stood out for me ("Horses At Night") and it turned out that it was not featured on any of their albums. I bought it a few days later from their Bandcamp page as a digital download. 

On my first gig back in 2013 I had bought their first two albums (one of which was "Strange Pleasures" on coloured vinyl signed by Tessa!). This time I was looking forward to buying their third and fourth (the latest). Unfortunately, it was only the latter ("Slow Air") that was for sale at the merchandise stand, but I did manage to track down their third on Amazon the following day.

Nothing else to say except that it was an enjoyable night out on a weeknight and that Tessa was wonderful and lovely as usual...

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Oh! And they also took a selfie with all of us towards the end of the gig...

SETLIST:
01. Black Lagoon
02. Fireflies
03. Lost Boys
04. Dreamlands
05. The Calvary Cross
06. Don’t Fall In Love
07. Cuckoo
08. Beginning To Blue
09. The Message
10. The Photograph
11. Endless Summer
12. Berlin Lovers
13. Horses At Night
14. The Trip
Encore:
15. Wish
16. Still Life

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How I learned to stop worrying and love Still Corners

 

I had never heard of Still Corners before until last October when they played a gig in Athens. And it was my girlfriend who asked me to go with her to see them. So I did something I do not usually do: I checked out some of their songs on YouTube. (I'm used to discovering my music the old-fashioned way: Buying records and stuff I hear on the radio). That's when I realized that they fall into a category which I adore: "Heavenly Female Vocals" which first bring to mind Mazzy Star. The same thing that came to my mind at the Isobel Campbell with Mark Lanegan gig. And all this coupled with a synth sound (but not completely electronic, and as a result several fans of "real" music have also fallen under their spell). However it was electronic enough for me to remind me a bit of the things I love about Marsheaux.

The gig was in a small underground venue (I mean literally underground as it was in a basement) in the center of Athens. Greek band Spectralfire were on first

 

And then it was time for Still Corners fronted by the lovely Tessa...

 

 After the gig, Tessa was tending the merchandise stand herself. I nought thir records and Tessa was kind enough to sign one of them (the special coloured vinyl one) for me!