AXOLOTL - LIVE @ the Minack

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...Recorded LIVE at the Minack Theatre, Porthcurno,on the 2nd of May 2014 this was arguably Axolotl's finest gig, on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean, in a fading light of the setting son, a fitting backdrop to the ominous delicacy of the soundscape presented within. This performance was part of a Curious Circle, an event created by the Ascension plan starring the inimitable Mimi Goese with the angelic voices of the 50 Degrees and featuring stunning live projections by local artist Paul Lewin...

...Album here - https://rfsoriginals.bandcamp.com/track/live-at-the-minack...

Kian Joseph - Guitar/Moog/FX

Recorded by Richard Blackborow
Produced by Enrique Che Pelligro
Filmed by ThreeS Films
Directed by Pancho B Gubbins Esq

Kristmind

...Happy Solstice from the Plan...

Flowers

LIVE @ the Minack - teaser

...COMING SOON to a THEATRE NEAR YOU...
...a film by Pancho B Gubbins Esq...
...starring the Ascension plan,
with Mimi Goese, the 50 Degrees & Axolotl...
...LIVE @ the MINACK...
...Album & DVD on Magnetic West Records...
...anotherQUATILYproduct...

LIVE @ the MINACK - theatrical trailer

...COMING SOON to a THEATRE NEAR YOU...
...Rex Stetson Presents...
...in association with...
...Magnetic West Records...
...the Ascension plan...
...LIVE@theMINACK...
...featuring the 50 Degrees...
...with Very Special Guest Star...
...MIMI GOESE...
...anotherQUATILYproduct...

Live @ the Minack - credits trailer

...COMING SOON on DVD...

...LIVE @ the MINACK...

...starring the ASCENSION plan...

...with Special Guest Star - Mimi Goese...

...featuring the angelic voices of the 50 Degrees...

...with soundscapes by Axolotl...

...and live projections by Paul Lewin...

Review by Lucy Cooper

THE MINACK'S dramatic setting, open to the elements, with a jaw-dropping backdrop of sea and sky, provided the ideal launch pad for a night of epic and ethereal sounds from Penwith-based band The Ascension Plan and special guests.
On Friday, May 2, hundreds gathered on the cliffs at Porthcurno to witness the four-piece band join forces with New York singer Mimi Goese, of 1980s cult American band Hugo Largo, and Penzance choir the 50 Degrees.
The night marked what the band call, "the completion of a curious circle". The circle began back in the 1990s with Quietly Torn, the band started by The Cure's Porl Thompson when he moved to Zennor.
When Mimi Goese, the band's original singer, left – homeward bound for New York – Thompson recruited St Just guitarist and singer Martin Jackson, then 16 years old. On a May evening in 1998 Martin took to the Minack stage to play a memorable gig with Quietly Torn.
Martin went on to form The Ascension Plan with Quietly Torn drummer Nick McLeod, bassist Mungo Shoddy and former Bates Motel man Paul Adams on electric violin.
In 2012, on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Nick McLeod (who also plays with The Incredible String Band's Clive Palmer) and Mimi Goese began to hatch a plan.
This resulted in Mimi's collaboration with the band on a number of tracks, including Ascending, from their All Ways EP, and forthcoming singles Buoy and Life (You Are).
Ultimately, it led back to the Minack and the wild Cornish cliffs on a May evening in 2014, bringing Mimi and Martin together to share the stage for the first time.
The result was an evening that managed to pull off the feat of being both intimate and epic.
Axolotl set the tone with an introductory soundscape that melded with the waves and the wind. Building from womb-like gongs and elemental murmuring, The Ascension Plan's sound swelled into celestial flights of liquid violin melting into out of this world vocals, transporting the listener to realms at once familiar, strange and beguiling.
With years of collective musical experience under their belts, the band moved together effortlessly through the haunting waltzing chorus of Old Wings, via the alternating swing and raw power of Disengage (and Remain The Same), the ethereal Ascending and meditative All Ways. Mimi Goese brought her extraordinary and formidable vocals into the equation – which can also be heard on Moby's Into The Blue and When It's Cold I'd Like To Die – bringing theatrical flair and sparkle to the stage along with her trademark vocal acrobatics.
Adding the vocal harmonies of the 50 Degrees choir into the mix, under the skilled direction of Vicky Abbott, sent beautiful, fluid, yet precisely aligned harmonies rushing across the Cornish skies.
"The sky and sea stitched seamlessly," Mimi sings on the forthcoming single Life, (You Are). As the daylight faded, sea and sky vanished into one another and the stage was bathed in a dance of colours, courtesy of projections by renowned local artist Paul Lewin.
Sky, sea, music and light stitched seamlessly into a mesmerising fabric, entrancing the senses. The resulting frisson carried echoes of Sigur Ros at the Eden Sessions.
Maybe it's the tuning, the band tune their instruments to a pitch of 432HZ – said to be the natural universal frequency – rather than the standard concert pitch of 440HZ. Maybe it's the combined power of more than 50 voices. Or maybe it's just that special something that ignites when a plan comes together beautifully.
Whatever the secret, this will be remembered as a night when magic was made, when The Ascension Plan unfolded their wings and took flight with Mimi Goese and the 50 Degrees.

Nicholas Pegg – author of the acclaimed Complete David Bowie series of books as well as a regular Dalek operator on Dr Who – was on holiday in the area and attended the concert. He tweeted: "One of the best gigs I've ever seen."

...this trailer features the credits for the show along with the studio version of Disengage (and remain the same), which is on the band's EP, available here - https://theascensionplan1.bandcamp.com/

Live @ the Minack - This is The Place (50 Degrees trailer)

...COMING SOON...
...LIVE @ the MINACK...
...the ASCENSION plan...
...with Special Guest Star - Mimi Goese...
...featuring the angelic voices of the 50 Degrees...
...with soundscapes by Axolotl...
...and live projections by Paul Lewin...

...Completing the Curious Circle...
The Ascension Plan
All began
In a wind tormented caravan
The band was started by guitarist and singer, Martin Jackson and drummer Nick McLeod,
as they jammed the night away in Martins caravan, on the cliffs of Cape Cornwall.
Spurred on by the storm...they rekindled a flame that was lit 10 years before,
while playing together in Porl Thompsons solo project, Quietly Torn.
Paul Adams AKA 'the Waft', was recruited next, his heart-soaring violin stylings and
effect-sodden sounds captivated Nick's ears whilst they both backed Clive Palmer
(legendary co-founder of Incredible String Band) in his occasional live forays,
his swoops and flights of fancy perfectly complimenting Martin's melodies.
Finally finding a bassist conducting cymatic experiments deep in the woods,
the mysterious and mercurial mungo shoddy was tempted into town
to play on just 'a couple' of songs in a set.

The band have been described as warm and unusual,
epic and ethereal, atmospheric and ambitious
...bringing audiences to euphoric heights of clapping joy...
...with melodies that can take you far from the pain of the day
to an isle where everything is ok...

...this trailer features the 50 Degrees performing "This is The Place"...