Gothic Festival 2009

rifrafPremier du genre pour le festival, Hedera Helix propose ses morceaux en flamand. Leurs shows font partie de ceux par lesquels on reste scotchés tant le spectacle est étrange. Le Dr. Oscar Valerius Kandinsky arrive sur scène, très solennel, en tenue très proche de celle d'un prêtre... jusqu'à ce qu'il ouvre son col et qu'apparaisse une cravate. Ce tour de passe-passe est caractéristique de ce que sera le concert : intrigant, ambigu (jeu avec un miroir), étrange (des danseurs jouent les automates), varié (le jeu de scène de Maestro Virgule) et intellectuel (lecture). Le groupe qualifie parfois sa musique d' "intellectro" et on comprend pourquoi : les paroles ont une importance capitale, très mises en avant sans empêcher les rythmes electro indus de donner des secousses aux hanches des spectateurs (les Hedera Helix aiment les Welle:Erdball et ça se sent). Le public est invité à participer, notamment sur Angularis Aurea (aka La Fille est Morte).
(LilleLaNuit)

Gothic Festival 2009

rifrafHedera helix emerged in 2000 as a three-piece line-up of seasoned musicians which have produced since the band’s inception a couple of musical pieces within a varying stylistic range but not released any album thus far according to the scarce information I could find. HEDERA HELIX is Oscar V. Kandinsky (Bart De Poorter - lyrics, music, vocals), Maestro Virgule (Peter De Koning - keys, backing vocals), Goss (Steven Gossye - guitar, trombone, backing vocals), Öscr (Steven Verbeke - visuals), Palacinta (Günther Vermeire - visuals) and Öswld (Wouter Vanrysselberghe - visuals).

Music & Performance
Now that was a really special one. Actually, you’d have to say it’s much more of a performance than with anyone else. HEDERA HELIX from the Netherlands doesn’t intend to present their music in any way the common audience is used to. They’re making it more of an act. This act started with a very danceable first song intermingling guitars as well as synth work, delivered by the guys - Peter De Koning and Steven Gossye - on the left and right on platform they wouldn’t be leaving for the entire show. That fact left much room for the singer and poet Bart De Poorter to move but it wouldn’t just be him as it turns out. But first it was only him, wearing sort of a priest’s uniform and not singing but reciting poetry. The problem was that I didn’t understand a word because it was all in Dutch as the rest of the texts would be as well. With the next song he would also start chanting, which was not extraordinary to my ears.

The extraordinary came with ‘Hypochonder’, the third song in the set. A guy - Öscr - slowly came on stage with a big fish in his hands, imitating swimming movements and then handing it over to De Poorter, who gave it a away alter to another guy - Öswld - who left the stage the same way the other entered it. But that’s not nearly the end of the line. For the next song we saw the two guys from before returning with what I suspect to be a bible, they would open and hold, while De Poorter seemed to quote a prayer or something. At that moment I cursed myself for not understanding Dutch. Would’ve helped here definitely this time around and I suppose be fundamental for a deeper understanding of their overall performance and how it’s connected to the lyrics. What I didn’t expect at all, the crowd really liked it and the band seemed to have quite some fans in Belgium or wherever they actually came from. As for me, it solely musically didn’t strike a big chord with me, but the performance; they laid down almost made that up completely.
(Sebastian Huhn - Reflections of Darkness)

Live debuut in Terrorverlag

terrorverlagEs begannen zunächst HEDERA HELIX, die ich unter ???undefinierbares, sehr seltsames belgisches Kulturerlebnis” einordnen würde. Es war der allererste Liveauftritt dieser Band. Die elektronischen Klänge waren eine Mischung aus Future Pop, Elektro und Dark Wave - sehr interessant und hörbar, der Sänger hatte eine ähnlich markante Stimme wie der Sänger von Laibach... aber sehr verstörend war, dass die Texte alle flämisch (niederländisch?) waren und er mitten im Konzert - begleitet von der elektronischen Musik - aus der Bibel vorgelesen hat - auch auf flämisch/niederländisch... der Auftritt hatte einen gewissen Fun-Faktor, bedingt durch Lady Zoe und Schmurtevusk, die sich neben dem Sänger Dr. Oscar Valerius Kadinsky für die sehr seltsame Bühnenshow verantwortlich zeigten. Es wurde u.a. ein Reifen herum gereicht und Schmurtevusk stand mit einem ???Bus” Schild auf der Bühne.... dennoch wird die Musik es wohl nicht bis in mein CD Regal schaffen.
(Perdita Durango - Terrorverlag)

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