Heidi Elva

A little bit of magic, the kind that happens to those who live music essentially as a passion, brought Heidi Elva to perform on the notable stage of Locanda Atlantide in Rome, as part of the fascinating "Thule" series, entirely dedicated to exploring borderline musical paths, themselves traced by artists of rather unusual origin.

So, alongside the many Nordic acts on the bill (from Jenny Hval to Sóley), the New Zealand harpist found her fitting place, and thanks to a series of happy coincidences, was able to seize the chance of a brief stay in Rome to present, for the first time to an Italian audience, the experiments collected on her two albums, "Ships And Trees" and "Lo-Fi Musings", as well as a few tantalizing previews of where she's headed next.

Backed by her friend Kris on keyboards (who, as it happened, was also in Rome those same days), Heidi took the stage in an elegant black dress, with the barest of stage setups: an arrangement of a skull and white roses resting on a small table. Beside her, the odd sonic pairing of a harp fitted with effects and pedals, and her iPhone, from which she drew samples and full-fledged electronic compositions.

As she herself had hinted beforehand, the show – also accompanied by video projections – unfolded in a thoroughly unusual way, starting with the opening "Simple Pleasures", for which Heidi filters her voice through the harp, and the following "Casey's Bassline", which immediately drew the captivated audience into an eerie atmosphere, threaded with low, stretched-out sounds, pulsations, slender melodies and delicate touches of strings.

For the third song of the set, Heidi opted for complete darkness, lit only by the LED lights on her harp, for the most stripped-back and acoustic track of the night, "There's A Spell", which takes her back to the roots of her debut album and to an extremely bare ballad, one that elevates harp and voice to absolute protagonists.

Of an entirely different nature were the two unreleased tracks, which reflect the New Zealand artist's new explorations, now leaning toward composing via digital apps, while at the same time paying increased attention to the melodic components of her songs.

Enveloping electronic textures and narcoleptic cadences frame "Wet Season Rains" and "She Cries Tears Like A Statue", sketching out an intimate, nocturnal imagery that hints at Heidi Elva's artistic transition, stirring curious expectations for her next studio work, announced as being composed entirely on the iPhone.

Electronic modernity and instrumental classicism (albeit rendered in a wholly unconventional way) merge in the music of Heidi Elva, who, after offering a heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the evening possible, bids farewell to the Roman audience with the splendid "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter". The track, which she contributed to the free download compilation OndaDrops Vol. 3, best represents the many facets of a complete and versatile artist, whose ever-evolving sensibility came through clearly over the scant hour of her singular, magnetic performance.

Photo by Sebastiano Iannacchione

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