London Victoria & Albert Museum

Rather unnerving it is as well...

There’s hope for highbrow culture yet. The current V&A late view season is as open to Philistines as it is to aesthetes. And tonight’s soirie takes place amid enough exhibits from centuries of art, empire and plunder to dazzle an ox. Plus, there’s DJ Anjali, of Voodoo Queens infamy, and sick live music too. The intention is to shatter the fusty, reverential air of a place full of stone and ceramic dead things. A task perfectly suited to Project Dark, who make a hellish white noise seem almost beautiful, thanks to source material of three gramophones and records made of biscuits, human hair (!) and household objects. As the turntable devastation is projected onto a screen in a room full of medieval Christian imagery, the band try to look serious and unfazed, but they must be inwardly smirking at getting away with this.

The sepulchral strangeness of the location seems to inspire The High Llamas as well. In a room that hosts a 12th century Flemish tapestry of the fates, Sean O’Hagan and comrades are possessed enough to turn into a Philip Glass-style troupe. Rather unnerving it is as well, as repetitive figures of vibraphones, keyboards, guitars and harpsichords aim to hypnotise viewers into stunned silence. And succeed in doing so. A result.

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