I had coincidentally travelled straight from Bristol to see Tara Clerkin and her bandmates, brothers Sunny-Joe Paradiso and Patrick Benjamin, whose sound unmistakably channelled their West Country hometown. Settling into the deep-set bleachers of EartH Hackney, I found myself in a space reminiscent of a ramshackle school assembly hall, with its lofty ceilings and dwindling grandeur. Originally an octet, the group had shed five members, yet the stage bore no resemblance to this subtraction. Arranged with a mélange of acoustic instruments, multiple mixers, pedals, and peculiar pieces of retro-futuristic tech, the trio’s setup felt anything but stripped back. At the centre sat a cerulean glass fish, suffused in light, its gaping mouth directed at a microphone. Both abstract and amusing, it stood as an emblem of the eccentric experimentalism that was about to unfold.
With gawkish confidence, the trio shuffled onto the stage and immediately dove into their instrumental riddles. Paradiso opened with discordant brushes of his cello, while Benjamin’s coolly executed keyboard melodies garbled between Clerkin’s ouroboros-like synthy loops. The result evoked a sound reminiscent of Dorothy Ashby’s Afro-Harping albeit in a more fragmented, adventurous iteration. While the layering grew impressively complex, moments of disjointedness left me questioning whether parts were intentional or stumbling toward coherence, and how the former members could have fit without it sounding entirely frenzied. However, once they found their way, their off-kilter samples, electronic drum beats, and airy piano chords laced together, both overriding and giving way to produce a respiring, multi-instrumental soundscape.
Loosely defined as jazz, their show possessed an interstitial quality, straddling multiple genres and covering a range of sonic touchpoints—from naturalistic psych-pop and ambient folk to elements of DnB and woozy trip-hop. Despite drawing from a myriad of influences, their unifying thread was distinctly geographical. Recording samples from everyday life in Bristol, Clerkin captured the nonchalance of the city—breathy gusts from the harbour, chiming church bells, and dismantling scaffolding. Through improvised and extended grooves, these samples led the rapt audience on an undeniably engaging, psychogeographical journey through their hometown.
The trio’s contemporary soundscapes of the city were complemented by an homage to their sonic heritage, as they pushed the 90s Bristol trip-hop template into twisted new forms. At times, this felt like a bold reinterpretation; at others, it seemed to tread familiar ground. Clerkin’s brittle yet breathy vocals carried a sweetness that inevitably drew comparisons to Lou Rhodes of Lamb or Tricky’s long-time collaborator, Martina Topley-Bird but there was also an element of vulnerability in her delivery that made her voice uniquely her own. Playing mostly new material, the brothers steered each track into uncharted territory, executing rhythmic handbrake turns that sometimes felt unsteady but solidified the trio’s commitment to unpredictability.
Taciturn on stage, Paradiso signalled the end of each track with a slightly awkward yet charming thumbs-up, prompting applause from the audience. An unplanned, vaguely chaotic encore followed, with Paradiso somersaulting onto the stage, Benjamin tripping over the stairs, and Clerkin watching with mild amusement, clearly accustomed to their antics. Their final performance delivered a kind of jazz/dub ballad: velvety vocals layered with deviant beats that clashed abrasively against Clerkin’s aquatic clarinet notes—perhaps an ode to the glass fish mascot.
A truly avant-garde and experimental band, Tara Clerkin Trio delivered a completely mesmerising performance. Despite their unorthodox instrumentation being challenging for the audience at points, their set ultimately won us over with pastoral fades, washes of synths, and syncopated drum beats, leaving a lasting, transgressive impression, even if it occasionally lacked polish.
Review by Florence Marling
Featured Image : Tara Clerkin Trio at EartH Theatre (c) Samuel Mitchell
Presented by Upset The Rhythm
Read Florence’s latest Review: ‘All We Imagine As Light’ – A Beautiful Meditation on Womanhood in India, in cinemas from 29 November – Abundant Art
