Evolutionary Arts Hackney (EartH), a converted Art Deco cinema, is now a thriving arts centre, promoting innovative and cross-cultural art. It is an appropriate place to host artists who hail from New Orleans and New York City, places where cultures mix and there is a rich tradition of great music and artistic endeavour. With impressive, faded grandeur, the 680-capacity venue is ‘furnished’ with the tiered bare boards of the old cinema where the seats once were, providing a freeform and relaxed space.
Julie Odell, from The Crescent City, released her only album to date, Autumn Eve, in 2022, to great critical acclaim. Since then, her only recorded output has been the 2025 EP Disappearing Act. Yet tonight, the promise of some new material was in the air. Odell, accompanied by Josh Carpenter and his telecaster, performed a short seven-song set, including five new songs, not yet recorded. She took us through every tempo, every sonic extreme, constantly challenging the listener to figure out where the ground is, where home is. “Internally, I always feel either really chaotic or really calm….so, it’s a lot of really loud, fast-paced stuff, and then it’ll shrink down to really quiet, delicate things. I’m obsessed with dynamics,” explains Odell. The music sears, it waxes and wanes, and then it attacks you again when you’re least expecting it. Nothing feels sequential or regimented with the song structures, so why should we feel this constraint when discussing the set. The last song, Disappearing Act, flows rhythmically, following the beat, occasionally pausing to signify the end of a section. It’s musically simple, yet hypnotically compelling. The other previously released song, number four in the set, was Signs Of Spring. It places a haunting vocal over a rapidly picked guitar with a slightly disorienting chord change, strangely reminiscent of Lennon’s Julia. These familiar songs were interposed with the new songs. In the absence of a recording, it’s difficult to really absorb and appreciate the new songs on one live listen. Suffice to say that initially, they sounded predictable in their unpredictability. Song titles such as Meadow and Cake intrigue, but at this stage, we’ll just have to be satisfied with the few minutes of sonic ambience and wait to fully immerse on release.
Odell has some great songs in her back catalogue, which perhaps the audience were anticipating. Songs such as Orioles Eating Oranges, another song off the 2025 EP, did not appear, disappointing only because of the time invested in finding out that an Oriole is a bird and not a US-based cookie: my bad. Other ‘bangers’ that may have been expected were Caterpillar and Cardinal Feather, yet it becomes clear that Odell is not going to play the obvious. And that is certainly part of her considerable charm. Odell is focused on the music and delivering it in the best way she can. She certainly showed us enough to encourage further exploration of what’s already out there and what’s to come.
Following Odell, The Antlers, from Brooklyn, took to the stage. Performing as a duo on this tour, they are Peter Silberman and Michael Lerner. The more recent songs are credited to both, Silberman the chief lyricist. Their most recent album, Blight, released in 2025, tackles the external issues the world is currently dealing with, whilst previous works have tended to be much more introspective. Silberman is the dominating stage presence, playing first electric guitar, sometimes subtle, other times raucous and then switching to the keyboard. His vocal range is striking, the high notes reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Adding various effects with choral vocals and a deep bass providing depth to the limited instrumentation. Lerner held the whole thing together with understated percussion, sometimes brushes, sometimes soft mallets, sometimes nothing.
Watching the Antlers is an intense experience. Their music envelopes you; the simple melodies float above a swirling mass of sound. The audience appeared to be well-versed in the ways and rhythms of their music, and they listened intently, absorbing the songs and the interpretations. Five songs from Blight were played. The first, Consider the Source, appealed to us to consider where all this ‘stuff’ comes from before we buy it. “Little choices and the way they spread, who must starve so we’d be fed” gives an indication of where Silberman is coming from and the questions he wants us to consider. They also drew heavily from the album Familiars. Palace offered the audience a more introspective, contemplative experience, and Intruders followed, more staccato, reverb-heavy, more urgent. As would be expected, several songs from 2009’s Hospice were played, including a moving rendition of Kettering with Silberman on keyboards. Odell reappeared to accompany The Antlers on I Was Not There and Carnage, Odell adding a searing vocal at the end of the song, almost a Clare Torry moment. Carpenter joined for the last song, and as Silberman commented, “You get close real quick on tour… especially if you like people”, and it certainly appeared that there was a warmth and shared respect between these artists.
After the show, the audience drifted away looking pretty chilled and perhaps a little drained. Walking back to the station, the street was still busy, full of life. A fast-food restaurant opposite the venue proudly proclaimed it has been “kebabbing since 1979“, the vibrancy of the multicultural city, absorbing and changing language, creating new verbs. Tonight we had a bit of New Orleans and a bit of Brooklyn added to the mix, and I’m sure we are all the better for it.
