“I have been in places were the sun does not exist …”
On December 3 we were lucky enough to experience a beautiful concert at Ilion Plus when even the rainy weather matched with the melancholy of the three bands we watched. JARGON, LUPE, ONISM… three different bands shared the stage on a night that they present us their recent album releases filling up the venue with darkwave melodies but also art/progressive rock that took us away to a music trip. For me it was one of the warmest gigs I ver attended…
“Waterfalls are steaming / As the fundamental skies are leaning…”
But let’s take it right from the start. The first band on stage was ONISM, a neo-classical darkwave duo that was founded by Lupe (Michalis Latousakis) and Luna (Efremia) on February 2020. Although it is an attempt of two people to express feelings and thought we saw on stage the cellist Irene Anastasiou but also the violin players Arieta Saita and Katerina Tepelina. They recently released their debut album “The Diary Of Fools” that to my surprise they had on sale at the venue in the weird format of a memory stick! I had no clue about their music but they easily earned my attention with their slow tempo melodic paths where they like to move, paths filled with minimalistic piano-based compositions. The vocals are split between Lupe and Luna but the addition of the cello and the violins added a lot to the atmosphere they want to create. They played the five tracks of the album but also some covers here and there with the Anathema one bringing lots of smiles and sweet memories to my face…
Setlist:
Exit Music (Radiohead cover) / Past Internal / The Sound of Us / Parisenne Moonlight (Anathema cover) / Heartbeat / The Crowd / Praying Mantis / Let Me / Without you I’m nothing (Placebo cover)
video ONISM live:
“And comes to me in days of yore…”
After the necessary break for drinks we noticed that Michalis Latousakis was back on stage, this time for his personal project LUPE. “Dark Room” is a special dark album of 2021 that focuses on the –almost theatrical- dramatic tone of his vocals and this is that makes him stands out in the general goth/darkwave genre. Lupe refers to his music as gothspel but in reality it is a mix of different layers of darkwave along with an alternative rock approach. Some technical issues spoiled the performance at some point but Lupe was too good to be ignored and the fans gave him all the applause he deserved. The setlist was based on his recent album but he also played from his debut and a brand new song from the upcoming album.
LUPE was responsible for vocals and keys but along with him on stage were Nikitas Kissonas(guitar), Aggeliki Potiri(violin), Efremia Mi.(percussions/vocals) and Jargon (piano).
setlist:
Intro / Reflected / Afraid no more / The Bargaining / Nouthetisis / Taste of defeat / Την Πατρίδα μ’εχασα
video LUPE live:
But the time to see the headliner has come and yes we were way after midnight while outside it was raining cats and dogs but only a few could predict the magic that was about to follow from the personal project of Verbal Delirium’s singer.
JARGON isn’t really the most talkative frontman in the world but as he said before he gets on stage “The Fading Thought” is an album that deserved to be heard from start to end non stop. And that’s what we got! For the next 60 minutes we experienced the album that was on top of my 2020 favorite greek albums. Along with Jargon on stage were Wil Bow(drums), Nikitas Kissonas(guitars), Leonidas Petropoulos(bass), Stratos Morianos(keys) while Lupe participated on vocals at the end.
It is really hard to name the music colors that Jargon created with this album since the art-prog rock meets with cinematic motifs of a dark melancholic film. The theme of the lyrics is touching anyway and requires all of your attention. This way you can really get deeper and fully understand what takes place in front of you, especially when Jargon seemed to be fully dedicated to the lyrics. Last but not least I must admit how great the other musicians were in a concert that I will remember in the future for sure…
setlist:
the film / in search of the invisible thin line / dance of the framed words / the fading thought / light / time is running out / how can I? / the last temptation / window to the world
® κείμενο/φωτογραφίες: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
video JARGON live:
