Wow. Where to start.

To me, Matthew Herbert is a musical hero and key inspiration, but as with many of my favourite artists I enjoy a mixed relationship with his work. His 90′s microhouse still gets me fidgeting on the dancefloor and his Big Band project was a beautifully realised synergy of politics, creative concept and music. However, his more recent output has failed to grab me. 2002′s Plat Du Jour, created entirely from recordings of food or food related sources, was high on concept but weaker on music. His more song based approach, such as 2006′s Scale, sounds somewhat flat to me.

Underlining all Herbert’s work is his fascinating (not to mention obsessive) personal manifesto for music making, which lays down rules about originality and the integration rather than discarding of ‘mistakes’. It calls for strict adherence to an overarching concept which dictates everything from sample sources and sound design right down to track names and tempos. This resonates with me – I love music as a wider artistic statement. If a tune is composed from the ground up with elements that comply to a particular message I appreciate it all the more, even if I do have to read about the concept first. In this way it’s like visual art – it often helps to read the blurb in a gallery to fully appreciate the work.

However, when listening to an album it has to be the music that counts once all’s said and done. If it’s not interesting to listen to then it’s failing as music, however strong the concept. This is where I believe Herbert’s recent recordings have faltered – one can chin-stroke at the ideas behind them but they lack sonic interest compared to his freer, funkier dance music. It’s telling that in my experience he’s always been better live, where one can see the processes involved in the music making – live looping, imaginative sampling (tea cups smashing, newspapers being ripped up), traditional instrumentation and vocals, all adding to a greater whole. One Day (the name marrying the concert with his current trilogy of albums) bridged the gap between concept, creative process and music more fully than any of his live performances I’ve seen to date.

The concert was an interpretation of the Guardian newspaper from Saturday 25th September 2010 – a bold thing to attempt, particuarly given that the whole thing was written in 6 weeks. The ever reliable London Sinfonietta, a jazz quartet (nestled up in the Royal Box), and singer Eska joined Herbert who was front stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall behind his array of machines and keyboards. One Day could have simply misfired, or been pretentious nonsense, but it proved to be witty, thought-provoking, original and hugely entertaining.

Proceedings began with the audience being given a copy of the paper in question, which acted as program and guide. With satisfying forward thinking Herbert had taken out an advert in the Review section that day which acted as a welcome and statement of intent on the night. Before each song a compare led us through the thinking behind the work, directing our attention to the articles that inspired the music and highlighting the links between them. This was very welcome – it would have been an impenetrable experience without. Complimenting the music (some of which was composed from recordings of the paper being produced at Guardian HQ) were projected videos with live sound effects by a foley artist and various on-stage antics such as live cookery and paper cutting.

From the unavoidable rustling of papers to parts that were actually directed by the conductor, audience participation was very much a part of things. We had to jangle our keys during a song about housing and rub credit cards together during a piece about a Sothebys auction. When food was the subject we were encouraged to make paper planes out the adverts we considered to represent the highest food miles. As a finale, the audience were divided into sections and our newspapers acted as instruments – beating, ripping and shaking in time with the music. The participation was great fun and broke down the ‘performer / audience’ barrier somewhat (although it was amusing to see Herbert getting slightly flustered when we continued outside the strict windows he’d composed for!) Most people wore bemused, amused looks – it was kind of insane, but it worked.

The connections Herbert drew between various parts of the paper and the means by which he represented them on the night deftly highlighted the tragedy, absurdity, mundanity and hilarity of popular media culture. One piece had the jazz band somberly covering Status Quo’s ‘In The Army Now’ whilst a video was shown of Francis Rossi and the boys jovially larking about at an army training camp. Meanwhile the audience were directed to articles about World War I gas attacks and there was even something to do with a gas mask on stage, the specifics of which escape me!

It would be too convoluted to detail all the comparisons and contrasts drawn between the Guardian stories, but others included an obituary Vs a zombie video game Vs a dead mothers favourite brownie recipe and a West Bank housing controversy Vs. Middle England domestic bliss. The latter involved volunteers building a wall out of red bricks on which they mounted a window in front of which they erected a lounge scene in which 2 girls watched telly and drank wine whilst the Guardian gardening columnist tended to window boxes ‘outside’. It sounds like chaos but it hung together surprisingly well. It was creaky but fascinating, encouraging one to think and laugh – much like Herberts music.

Speaking of the music, while it had its moments, it was somewhat forgettable for the most part. In fact if this had been a regular Herbert album, my critique of it falling slightly flat would apply. But being allowed into his creative world and the multi-sensory nature of the show took it beyond just music – it was far more a performance art piece than a straight concert. As such it was the perfect demonstration of Matthew Herberts creative intention which itself far exceeds sound, and a performance that refreshed his place on my ‘heroes’ list.

Read Matthew Herbert’s article in the Guardian about One Day, or watch the video.