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London N16Mixing musical styles with skill and verve, the classical composer turned left‑field pop artist’s exhilarating live show is a feast of sonic possibilitiesIn 2016, shortly after the release of her celebrated debut, Varmints, Anna Meredith revealed her top tip for composers. “Learn to play Happy Birthday. As soon as people hear you’re a musician they’ll ask you to play it, and I’m always the muppet using one finger going ‘ner-ner-ner’… ‘You had seven years of classical training and this is what we get?’”
Four years on, as a truly hellish version of Happy Birthday (in honour of guitarist Jack Ross) reverberates around this dark basement room, Meredith – composer, producer, all-purpose noisemaker – seems long past caring about anyone’s expectations. “Don’t sing a note that sounds like anyone else’s,” she urges the audience. “Make it sound as horrible as possible.” Being invited to deform this most basic of melodies is, like the rest of tonight’s show, weirdly exhilarating. Meredith and her four-piece band (tuba, guitar, drums and cello, plus Meredith on electronics, clarinet, extra drums and whatever else), clad in a uniform of warped and broken
prison stripes, are a careering getaway ride from musical convention, veering through club synths, grungy guitar, sweet pop singing and giant blasts of orchestral brass.