The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Fund us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Tumblr

  • RSS


CultureMusicLive music

Israel Nash Gripka at Rough Trade West

Israel Nash Gripka at Rough Trade West | Live review
2 October 2013
Phillip Spooner
Avatar
Phillip Spooner
2 October 2013

Tucked away in the streets around Portobello market, kicking off as all the shops are shutting up, is the massive voice of Israel Nash Gripka. Rough Trade West is packed with people and music ephemera plastering the walls, and the singer’s bellowed tones and strummed guitar boom through the tiny record store, cascading through everyone’s heart chakra and straight into their soul. Even passers-by are held captivated around the entrance.

With the lore of Midwest, times-gone-by nostalgia, Gripka revolves around the simpler things in life, sculpting emotional landscapes over intrapersonal relationships, the cross section often cutting deep valleys or soaring mountains. With memories as a guide, he agonises over the delicate interaction between people, and the immeasurable force of a moment in time is leaked out in song. With a solid handling on the valve, he artfully navigates the extremes of vocal capacity; playing back and forth between maximum and void, his voice doesn’t break once.

Collapsing inward from a metaphorical structure, he deeply explores the topic, refining it as truth, and relinquishing it from past ignorance. The music diffracts outwards in iterations of the importance of each moment, counterbalanced and mirrored by regular guitar with simple progression, and a tendency to flip out into a skilful and subtly balanced break from the pattern.

His personality shines between songs, and never misses a beat. His aviators are the only screen between a casual encounter-round-a-campfire atmosphere and deep punctures into his psyche and soul, expelled in raw but measured form.

His style seems to be reflected in the fact that he is a man between city and country: the heaviness strains against the rhythm, perpetually threatening to fall behind. His music has developed from earlier years into a more deeply introspective winding-down and warming-up.

Israel Nash Gripka is one to watch as his work trend is increasing. He announces to cheers for a second encore that he’ll be back in two weeks.

Phillip Spooner
Photo: Dena Flows

For further information about Israel Nash Gripka visit here.

Watch the video for Drown here:

Related Items

More in Live music

Justin Nozuka at the Garage

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Tokio Myers at the Forum

★★★★★
Daniel Amir
Read More

Lisa Stansfield at the London Palladium

★★★★★
Adrian Peel
Read More

Hinds at Electric Brixton

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★
Ed Edwards
Read More

Bastille at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★
Selina Begum
Read More

The Vaccines and Whenyoung at Alexandra Palace

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

John Barrowman and Seth Rudetsky at Leicester Square Theatre

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Alela Diane at Union Chapel

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Tickets

Theatre tickets

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design
    Food & Drinks
  • Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Tribeca Film Festival 2018: On the red carpet with the stars of Westworld season 2
    Cinema
  • Half Breed
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • 10 cute sandals for spring
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Justin Nozuka at the Garage
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Mayfly at the Orange Tree Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Sherlock Gnomes premiere: A chat with James McAvoy, his co-stars and the film’s creators
    Cinema
  • The Outsider
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Sherlock Gnomes premiere: A chat with James McAvoy, his co-stars and the film’s creators
    Cinema
  • Tokio Myers at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Beast
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Lisa Stansfield at the London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre

Instagram

Something is wrong. Response takes too long or there is JS error. Press Ctrl+Shift+J or Cmd+Shift+J on a Mac.
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Fund us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • New London restaurant openings and pop-ups
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Subscribe
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2018 FL Media Ltd

The World of Extreme Happiness at the National | Theatre review
The Parov Stelar Band at Heaven | Live review