It was dark and cold when I stumbled into Narnia, I mean… Corsica studios, and was lured in by the sound of musicians priming strings and vocal chords warming up on an otherwise dull October evening.
It might well be that Corsica Studios is its very own wonderland.
A not-for-profit venue, this small gem creates a magical wardrobe that gives rise to inspired and inventive musical stylings, that pass through like voyagers en route to other lands, and I can’t help but be pleasantly engrossed in their tales.
Nor can, it seems, the crowd of a hundred or so fellow Mice-Paradians who seem to descend so easily and so pleasurably into a happy trance at the sound of Pierce’s dreamy tones that, as I watch people sway so lazily you’d think they were rising from a coma, I check-in to make sure that the girl sat beside me is still awake. She is. She is just another victim of the Mice Parade blackout. A musically-induced-loss-of-consciousness that I can only assume has something to do with being left-handed, and something to do with Pierce and his contingent of mice…
The music sways with all the delicacy and somnolent pace of its audience and it’s not hard to be spellbound as songs range from tantalizing electronic numbers that seem to trail off, caught on a breeze and carried softly like a dozen paper ships floating out the doors, to the more observable freak-out-and-stomp-your-feet numbers. The band tightrope such changes with credible intuition and as an ensemble. There is no fat cat stealing the limelight, no chief-mouse calling the shots.
Another welcome and worthy explorer takes form in the support of Silje Nes, who is almost deafening in her tenderness, powerful in her serenity. Her voice works like a narcotic taken before a good nap, and I am reminded to not get too comfortable on the oh-so-soft couch in the oh-so-cool club.
I leave like any respectable Londoner, wiping the dribble off my chin and yawning slightly.
It’s not long before the chilly night-air and city noise make me yearn for another magical wardrobe to take me away…
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Dominique Gozdawa
The Kaje 