A gloomy spring afternoon was transformed into an enchanting evening of musical mastery as Kim Churchill wowed the crowd at Fat Controller.
Touring on the back of his highly acclaimed brand new album ‘Weight Falls’, the New South Welshman brought his unique blend of up-tempo, high-energy folk, blues and just a dash of rock to our fair city and it was nothing short of phenomenal.
After a lengthy, drawn-out production process and “getting caught up in the money” as Churchill himself said, he now-famously threw out his entire initial album, opting instead to write ‘Weight Falls’ in his bedroom, with an acoustic guitar, in the space of just a week.
The resulting record is an astoundingly beautiful, melodic masterpiece that is emotionally uplifting, heartfelt and poignant, and the bright-eyed troubadour certainly brought all of that to the stage.
Churchill, with his duo of touring drummers/percussionists/beat-masters, turned what could well have been a tame, underwhelming atmosphere into an ocean of gyrating bodies from the word go.
His biggest hits—2014 anthem mood-lifter ‘Window To The Sky’ and this year’s ‘Second Hand Car’—went as you’d expect, with the same sea of faces rebounding the energy exuded by the man on stage.
The highlight of the show, the 26-year-old shared a stirring story of short-lived love and friendship before almost bringing his disciples to tears with the wonderfully mellow ‘Rosemary’.
His uncanny ability to multitask left the crowd in awe as he occupied himself with not only an acoustic guitar, but a harmonica and a kick-drum, in what was an epic one-man spectacle for a good portion of the set.
The pièce de rèsistance, however, was left until last where he and his travelling band members ditched all their equipment for a single condenser microphone, two acoustic guitars and some out-of-this-world harmonies.
All said and done, the newly-converted walked away with his infectious smile mirrored on their faces, as did the stalwart fans.
Image: The Feldman Agency
